Leeds United and Cardiff City are two sides under pressure for different reasons heading into Saturday’s meeting in South Wales.
Leeds currently sit ninth in the Championship after suffering their first defeat of the season to Burnley last weekend, and another loss would turn a solid start to the campaign into a very poor one.
The game against Burnley was worryingly similar to so many of Leeds‘ defeats last season as Daniel Farke’s tactics could not find the answer to a defensive low block.
However, Leeds could not have asked for a better fixture up next as they face a Cardiff side with just one point and one goal in their opening five matches.
Manager Erol Bulut is under serious pressure heading into the match with senior players in the dressing room questioning his training methods, and Leeds simply have to take advantage.
Josh Smith appointed as referee for Cardiff vs Leeds
Leeds were left frustrated at their failure to be awarded a penalty last weekend following a challenge from Joe Worrall on Manor Solomon inside the box.
That said, former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher says the referee made the correct decision in not pointing to the spot, though Leeds will be hoping for more luck from the officials this weekend.
One man in the Leeds squad who will not be overly happy at the appointment of referee Josh Smith is Illan Meslier, though.
Smith took charge of Leeds’ Boxing Day defeat at Preston North End last season in which he sent Meslier off just after half-time for an apparent headbutt on Milutin Osmajic.
While Meslier clearly gave Smith a decision to make with his antics, it was certainly on the softer side and left Farke very unhappy with the decision.
In fact, Farke was so frustrated by what he saw that he claimed football is ‘done’ if that is what players are getting sent off for these days.
What is Leeds’ overall record with Josh Smith?
Despite this decision, Leeds’ record with Smith in the middle is actually fairly strong.
In total, he has officiated six Leeds matches during his career, with the only defeat actually coming in that aforementioned game at Deepdale.
Leeds have also come out on the winning side in three of them, against Accrington Stanley (Jan 2023), Plymouth (Nov 2023) and Hull City (Apr 2024).
The two draws came on the opening day of last season, incidentally at home to Cardiff, and in the play-off semi-final first leg at Norwich City, in which Billy Sharp criticised him for not giving Leeds a penalty.
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