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Match: Leeds United v Bolton Wanderers
Date: 14 August 2018
Time: 19.45 BST, 2.45 PM EDT,
Venue: Elland Road
Radio: Talksport Radio 2 in the UK & Ireland, LUTV audio stream in certain areas.
Television: beIN Sports HD 2 and beIN Sports HD 11 in most of the Middle East & North Africa, beIN Sports 2 in Australia & New Zealand, SportsMax 2 in the Caribbean, beIN Sports 1 in France, and Sport TV 2 in Portugal.
Streaming: ESPN+ in the United States, ESPN 3 Sur, ESPN Play Sur in Argentina and South America, beIN Sports Connect in the Middle East, North Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, DAZN in Canada, Germany, and Italy.
See livesoccertv for more information or if you don’t see your country listed.
All-time Record: Leeds v Bolton 28W 15D 23L
Leeds United begin their League Cup campaign for the 2017-18 season tonight, as Leeds will host Bolton at Elland Road, in a fixture that fans of both teams probably couldn’t be bothered with to be quite honest.
Leeds had a great run in the League Cup two years ago under former manager Garry Monk, only to lose to Liverpool in the fifth round after knocking out Norwich City on penalties. Last season was successful as well, as Leeds took a Premier League scalp, dropping Burnley and old “friends” Charlie Taylor and Chris Wood, only to bow out to another Premier League team, Leicester City, in the fourth round.
While fans would love to dream of a shock result of a lower-league club making it all the way to the final or even nabbing a trophy, last year’s run by Bristol City showed that while a long run can be magical, it’s often combined with a loss of form in the league, and most people would rather Leeds focus on promotion instead.
Bielsa on tomorrow's tie: "So far we've played only two games. Tomorrow many players who haven't played so far will play." Blackman, Shackleton, Jansson, Pearce, Baker, Roberts, Bamford, Harrison will all start. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHayYEP) August 13, 2018
It looks like some of the players who haven’t featured yet in the first two matches of the season are set to appear today, with Marcelo Bielsa indicating that Chelsea loanees Jamal Blackman and Lewis Baker will appear, along with Pontus Jansson, Patrick Bamford, Manchester City loanee Jack Harrison, Tom Pearce, Jamie Shackleton, and Tyler Roberts are all set to start. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Leeds season without Luke Ayling playing almost every match either.
It will be interesting to see how Leeds will play with almost an entirely new lineup, with plenty of players getting a chance to shine. Bamford, Jansson, and Blackman are all expected starters, so will they take their chance and force Bielsa into a difficult decision for the next league match?
Bolton are a team that many expect to struggle, so the League Cup will likely be an even lower priority for the Trotters, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t be an easy opponent. Leeds should be able to win this match, but hey, crazier things have happened. We’re Leeds after all.