Leeds v Cardiff predictions: Whites can get it right at the second attempt

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Leeds v Cardiff in the FA Cup third round on Wednesday.

Where to watch

ITV4, 7.45pm Wednesday

Best bet

Leeds to win & both teams to score
1pt 2-1 general

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Team news

Leeds
Stuart Dallas and Adam Forshaw are out, Liam Cooper is a doubt. Luis Sinisterra is fit. New signing Giorginio Rutter is ineligible.

Cardiff
Callum Robinson and Cedric Kipre are fully fit after illness. Joel Bagan is available after a ban.

Match preview

Leeds, grateful simply to have a second shot at FA Cup glory, can profit from their good fortune by seeing off managerless Cardiff City in a third-round replay at Elland Road.

The Whites were seconds from exiting the competition last weekend at the Cardiff City Stadium as they trailed the Championship strugglers 2-1.

But cometh the hour, cometh 18-year-old forward Sonny Perkins to grab his first senior goal, send the travelling hordes wild and book a well-deserved second chance for the Premier League side.

Since that tie, Cardiff have done away with manager Mark Hudson so head for Yorkshire with Dean Whitehead in charge and ex-Leeds chief Neil Warnock apparently lined up to step in.

Whitehead, like Jesse Marsch, is in charge of a team struggling for results and faced with a relegation battle that needs winning.

Cardiff have gone nine without a win and followed up that heartbreak against Leeds with another last-gasp setback against Wigan on Saturday, conceding an equaliser to the Championship's bottom side in the 96th minute.

They draw enough games to suggest they won't be easily beaten – six of their last seven have ended in stalemates – but they've probably missed the boat against Leeds, who also missed a penalty in south Wales.

The other irritant for Whitehead is that he's been prepping for this assignment while knowing that less than three days later Cardiff take on Championship rivals Millwall in a far more important game.

That isn't to say they won't give everything against Leeds in what should be an entertaining and the likely return (at some stage) of Callum Robinson will certainly add some welcome international class to their front line.

And against a reshuffled Leeds defence, Robinson – or whoever gets the nod – can cause trouble, as happened in the first assignment.

That said, Leeds were far the better side and while they failed to make that superiority tell – the shot count was 26-5 in their favour, the corner count 9-2 and they had 74 per cent possession – they can make amends on home soil.

Their games remain far too entertaining for their own sanity – matches are averaging 3.3 goals a time in the top division. They have not kept a clean sheet in any of three cup ties this term, or any of their last ten FA Cup games, so expect goals.