Leeds v Crystal Palace: Both to oblige in basement battle

• Leeds trending upwards under Gracia

• Palace impress on Hodgson's return

• BTTS a nice price to play @ 1.9620/21

Leeds earn vital midweek victory

Leeds secured a huge victory in their quest to remain in the Premier League as goals from Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra saw the Whites come from behind to beat relegation rivals Nottingham Forest at Elland Road on Tuesday night and move out of the bottom three.

In a tense but largely one-sided 'six-pointer', Forest opened the scoring to cap a ruthless counter early on.

But Leeds responded in style, with Harrison following up to fire in after Keylor Navas could only palm Marc Roca's shot from range. And after near-relentless pressure, Sinisterra curled a superb finish into the bottom corner to turn the tables.

Victory took Javi Gracia's side to 13th and the Spaniard was quick to hail a "massive win." He said, "I'm very pleased because the performance was really good. The attitude and reaction after conceding at home was perfect and something I'm really proud of. I think we should have killed the game before, but we didn't and had to suffer at the end of the game."

Robin Koch and Pascal Struijk stood firm at centre-half with Max Wober injured Liam Cooper on the bench.

Weston McKennie recovered from flu to start in central midfield, whilst Patrick Bamford was recalled to lead the line with Rodrigo and Willy Gnonto available in reserve.

Tyler Adams, Adam Forshaw and Stuart Dallas remain on the sidelines.

Palace impress on Hodgson's return

Roy Hodgson's return to Crystal Palace couldn't have been much better. The Eagles enjoyed their first win of the calendar year came against fellow relegation-threatened side Leicester - and they secured their deserved success with a goal in the final 30 seconds of injury time at Selhurst Park last Saturday.

Palace first-half performance was particularly impressive, with the South London club recording 20 shots, the most of any team in the Premier League since December 2015.

Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Wilfried Zaha all regularly tested the Foxes rearguard, while Cheick Doucoure's efforts from distance forced well-timed stops from the visitors' stopper.

Zaha's injury shortly before the break appeared to take the wind out of the hosts' sails but they fought back well after going a goal behind shortly into the second half.

Substitutes Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew combined for the winning goal while Eze, returning to the starting XI, continued in his attacking dynamism throughout.

Hodgson was understandably enthused by the performance, saying: "That was a fantastic way to win a game and I'm not just talking about the fact it was a last-minute goal. The way the team played throughout the 94 minutes was worthy of a lot of credit. The scoreline certainly doesn't flatter us." However, Zaha is now set for a spell on the sidelines.

In-form Leeds rated by the market

League matches between Leeds and Crystal Palace have been competitive this century with the Whites earning a W7-D3-L5 head-to-head advantage.

But contests between the pair at Elland Road have been dominant in Leeds' favour; the West Yorkshire outfit have won each of their past seven home outings with Palace across all competitions since 2006/07.

Leeds 2.1411/10 have won three of their opening six Premier League games under Javi Gracia's tutorship (W3-D1-L2) - as many as they had managed in their previous 22 this term (W3-D7-L12).

Only four sides have picked up more points since the Spaniard was appointed with the hosts now occupying their highest league position since early November.

Crystal Palace's 3.8014/5 had picked up a solitary success in 15 (W1-D5-L9) before Roy Hodgson's return; the Eagles are now searching for consecutive league wins for the first time since November.

The capital club are looking to enhance a poor road return (W2-D4-L8), although 63% of their points tally was earned against sides below them in the standings.

Both can oblige at Elland Road

Despite Javi Gracia's pragmatic nature, Leeds' recent encounters have been fun-filled affairs.

Each of the past four have featured winning Over 2.5 Goals 2.186/5 and Both Teams To Score selections 1.9620/21, a familiar theme for the home side with overall league games averaging 3.00 goals per-game and the Whites recording just five clean sheets thus far.

Crystal Palace displayed impressive attacking intent against Leicester last weekend and should be encouraged by Leeds' lack of defensive resilience.

Even without Wilfried Zaha in tow, the Eagles possess enough offensive ability and creativity to make their mark at Elland Road, making a play on BTTS hold plenty of appeal at close to even-money.

Palace have already managed to notch at The Emirates, The Etihad, Anfield and Old Trafford, and so repeating the feat at Leeds should be well within range.