Preview: Leeds United vs. Shrewsbury Town
Leeds United and Shrewsbury Town will battle for a place in the EFL Cup second round on Wednesday, when they meet at Elland Road.
The two teams both began their league campaigns at the weekend, with the hosts entertaining Cardiff City on their return to the Championship and the visitors making a winning start to the League One term at home to Cheltenham Town.
Leeds United headed into the 2023-24 season following plenty of change at Elland Road, after they were relegated from the Premier League last time around, eventually finishing 19th with just 31 points from their 38 games in a campaign in which they were managed by Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce.
The Whites would not fare any better in the EFL Cup that term either, beating third-tier Barnsley in the second round, only to drop out of the competition in the following round after a 1-0 defeat away at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Allardyce, who only took over at Elland Road in May, would depart following their drop to England’s second tier, after a three-year stay in the top flight, and the Yorkshire outfit turned to Daniel Farke to lead them into the new campaign and spearhead a bid to make an instant return to the Premier League.
His tenure began in pre-season, in which Leeds suffered defeats to Manchester United and Monaco and scored victories over Nottingham Forest and Hearts, before they raised the curtain on their Championship campaign at home to Cardiff City and went into the interval 2-0 down as Josh Bowler and Ike Ugbo found the net for the visitors.
Liam Cooper would pull one back early in the second half for the Whites, and they eventually forced a share of the spoils in dramatic fashion thanks to Crysencio Summerville’s 95th-minute equaliser, with Farke’s men now aiming to follow that up with a cup win on Wednesday before returning to Championship action in a trip to Birmingham City at the weekend.
They meet a Shrewsbury Town side who also entered the campaign under new management and kicked off their league campaign at the weekend.
In their eighth consecutive season in League One, the Shrews finished 12th last time around, ending on 59 points after a tough run in the final months, and following the culmination of that campaign, manager Steve Cotterill would depart after almost three years at the club.
They then took steps to appoint Matthew Taylor as the new boss in late June, and after a pre-season campaign in which a defeat to West Bromwich Albion was followed by draws with Coventry City, Stourbridge and Notts County, Taylor’s tenure truly got up and running in their League One curtain-raiser at home to Cheltenham Town on Saturday.
That meeting was goalless at the interval, but Ryan Bowman would quickly put the hosts ahead in the second half, and they stood strong to see out the 1-0 victory and take all three points.
On the back of that positive start to their new era, Shrewsbury will now aim to make it two wins from two competitive games this term and take a major scalp in the EFL Cup at Elland Road.
Leeds United form (all competitions):
D
Shrewsbury Town form (all competitions):
W
We say: Leeds United 2-0 Shrewsbury Town
Even with the anticipated squad rotation, Leeds should have too much for their third-tier visitors on Wednesday and will expect to record a first competitive win under Farke.