Kick-off: 1330, 10/01/2021
Stadium: The People’s Pension Stadium
TV: BBC One
Crawley are in fine form in League Two and will not be short of confidence as they look to cause an FA Cup upset by beating Leeds in the third round.
The Red Devils have climbed into the play-off places thanks to an eight-match unbeaten run but we’re not convinced they have the quality to get past Marcelo Bielsa’s men.
Leeds should be able to rotate their squad and still ease through so we’re backing an away win by more than one goal as our opening Crawley vs Leeds prediction at 19/20.
A Look At Crawley Town’s Betting Odds
Crawley have certainly produced plenty of entertainment in this season’s FA Cup and neutrals watching on television will hope for a similar thriller to their first-round tie against Torquay.
The match finished 3-3 after 90 minutes before Crawley battled back from 5-3 down in extra time to win 6-5 thanks to a Tom Nichols hat-trick.
That was followed by a 2-1 win at League One side AFC Wimbledon and boss John Yems is eyeing a major scalp this weekend.
He told the West Sussex County Times: “We haven’t got a lot to lose, but careers are made for players and games like that. Saturday we’re playing a Premier League side, what a way to test ourselves.
“It’s a free punch as far as I’m concerned, but do we want to be in the hat next week? Of course we do, we’re not going out to lose, we’re going out to win, and give them a good game of football.
“We’ll enjoy it, how can you not enjoy playing Leeds United at our ground? It’s all part and parcel of it and if the lads and club can’t enjoy it we shouldn’t be in football.”
We’re expecting an attacking approach from Crawley and they have one of the hottest properties in League Two in striker Max Watters, who has scored 16 goals in 18 matches in all competitions this season.
Looking at the Crawley vs Leeds odds, over 3.5 goals appeals at 31/20.
Last Crawley line-up: Morris, Dallison, Davies, Tunnicliffe, Craig, Francomb, Powell, Matthews, Hessenthaler, Nadesan, Nichols.
A Look At Leeds United’s Betting Odds
Leeds have struggled at times against the top teams on their return to the Premier League but their haul of 23 points from 17 matches means there is little chance of them being dragged into a relegation fight.
They have conceded 12 goals in three successive away defeats at Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham but have also showed what they are capable of by putting five goals past both Newcastle and West Brom in December.
Bielsa is likely to rotate his squad to some extent and Pablo Hernandez can be expected to run the show if he returns to the starting line-up.
Leeds are no strangers to FA Cup upsets in recent years, notably losing at Newport at the same stage of the competition three years ago.
They were comfortable 3-0 winners at Salford in the EFL Cup last season though and we fancy a 3-1 win here at 10/1 as the last of our Crawley vs Leeds betting tips.
Last Leeds line-up: Meslier, Ayling, Struijk, Alioski, Dallas, Harrison, Phillips, Klich, Bamford, Raphinha, Rodrigo.
Additional stats
Last result:
Bolton 0-1 CRAWLEY – George Francomb
Tottenham 3-0 LEEDS
Head-to-head: N/A
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