Match Today: Manchester City vs Leeds United 28-12-2022 English Premier League

Fifteenth-placed Leeds United face a tough task on their return from the World Cup break.

They host Premier League champions Manchester City who are third in the table, eight points behind leaders Arsenal.

Both teams need to recover after losing the last league game. Manchester City benefited from Erling Haaland not playing in the Mundial and Kevin De Bruyne lost in the group s' role. They put Grealish, Foden and Stones on the bench for the UEFA Cup match against Liverpool but all three came on in the second half. Calvin Phillips is not in Pep Guardiola's good books at the moment.

He has been criticized for returning from the World Cup carrying a few more pounds than he should have. Ruben Dias is out through injury and Julian Alvarez is yet to be seen after his World Cup heroics.

Manchester City vs Leeds United

Leeds United have made a bright start to the season after last season's relegation battle. However, their form soon turned into a downward spiral with two points from eight games. Late October and early November saw them win at Anfield and at home to Bournemouth.

The inconsistency appeared again though as they were defeated 4-3 at Tottenham after leading three times in the match. The last two league games finished 4-3 with both teams scoring in four of their last five league matches.

Their home form saw United win one of their last five Premier League matches and they had to come from 3-1 down to win that. They are just two points above the bottom three but have two games in hand.

Manchester City have a tough set of matches on the horizon including facing Chelsea in both the Premier League and FA Cup. They can't afford any mistakes with Arsenal and Newcastle in excellent form at the moment. City trail leaders Arsenal by eight points, but this match is postponed.

Leeds United vs Manchester City

Manchester City have won 10 of their 14 Premier League matches this season and are top scorer with 40 goals.

They find themselves in third place in the table and certainly cannot afford to lose points in this match. City lost their last league game before the end of the World Cup.

That was a 2-1 loss at home to Brentford, their second league loss of the season. The other was away to Liverpool in mid-October, winning all three matches played between those two losses. City have played just six away games this season (compared to eight at home) and have won three of them. They have lost just one of their last 24 away matches in the Premier League and won 4-0 at Leeds in April.

The other Premier League between these two clubs saw City win 7-0. Manchester City scored 11 unanswered goals in both league matches against Leeds last season. Manchester City have lost just one of their last 24 Premier League away games.

Manchester City will field a strong line-up off the bench as they did in the UEFA Cup last week. Leeds United have won just one of their last five home league matches. Leeds United have conceded at least twice in four of their last five league matches.