League Cup Preview: Leeds United - Manchester United

Premier League leaders prepare to travel to face fierce rivals in a mouth-watering clash, with the underdogs having won the last time they met

LEEDS UNITED Lonergan Connolly, O’Dea, Lees, White Snodgrass, Howson, Clayton, Nunez  McCormack, Becchio

MANCHESTER UNITED Lindegaard Vermijl, Jones, Evans, Fabio Valencia, Carrick, Gibson, Giggs Berbatov, Owen

After his sending off against Bristol City Patrick Kisnorbo will not be available for Simon Grayson’s side so Paul Connolly could earn himself a recall at full-back. Luciano Becchio should partner the in-form Ross McCormack upfront.

This game provides a chance for some of the Manchester United stars who have not been involved so far this season to get some game time, so expect to see Darron Gibson, Fabio, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen to feature in this fierce local rivalry. Youngsters Mannick Vermijl, Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison will also all be in contention having impressed for the club’s reserve side over the past 12 months.

• These two sides have met 106 times in their long histories and not surprisinglyManchester United have had the better of those meetings with 45 wins. Leeds have only been successful on 26 occasions with the other 35 matches ending level.

• Leeds and Manchester United have met four times in the League Cup, with the Red Devils coming out victorious on all four occasions scoring nine goals. They have not met in this competition since 2003 when David Bellion, Diego Forlan and Eric Djemba-Djemba won the game for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.

• The two Uniteds last met in January 2010 when Leeds surprised their opponents with a 1-0 victory in the FA Cup third round at Old Trafford, a 19th-minute Jermaine Beckford strike sealing a memorable victory for the Yorkshire side.

• Elland Road is a happy hunting ground for Manchester United. They have won five out of their last 10 visits to Leeds. And the stats are not good for Leeds who have only won twice in this fixture at Elland Road in the last 15 years.

• Manchester United have been in outstanding form in front of goal already this season, scoring an impressive 21 goals in their five Premier League matches, making them the highest scorers in the Premier League by some way.

• Leeds have made a solid start to the Championship this season, sitting in 11th position, and have won their last two matches against Crystal Palace and Bristol City.

• Boss Grayson (pictured right) will be glad the fixture is at home as they have not won any of their three games away from Elland Road this season, whereas at home they have three out of four.