Preview: Leeds United vs Blackburn Rovers | OneFootball

Leeds United will play their first match of 2025, when they face Blackburn Rovers at Elland Road in a 3pm kick-off on New Year’s Day.

The Whites will face Rovers in their opening Sky Bet Championship match of the year, currently occupying top-spot in the table after a strong end to 2024.

Daniel Farke saw his side win nine matches in a row on home turf to end the year, as well as securing back-to-back away victories and clean sheets over the Christmas period.

A 2-0 win on Boxing Day away at Stoke City, thanks to a Joel Piroe double, was then backed up by an excellent 1-0 win on the road at Derby County, courtesy of Brenden Aaronson’s superb late finish to round off a stunning team move.

Highlights from the win over Derby County:

Rovers have been in strong for themselves of late and come to West Yorkshire in 5th place, firmly inside the play-off positions in the league.

A run of six wins in a row throughout November and December - also including the 1-0 win over Leeds at Ewood Park - saw John Eustace’s side secure five clean sheets along the way.

The winning streak was ended away at Millwall just before Christmas, before an entertaining 2-2 draw with high-flying Sunderland on Boxing Day added another point.

The Lancashire outfit will now be aiming to bounce back from defeat in their last match though, having succumbed to a single-goal defeat against Hull City to end 2024.

As always in a congested period of fixtures, both teams could see movement in the table without playing, depending on results elsewhere.

However, if either team can secure the three points on New Year’s Day, it would guarantee that they remain in the current positions of 1st and 5th, respectively.

Highlights from our last win at Elland Road, against Oxford United:

How to watch:

The match has not been chosen for live television broadcast within the UK.

For further information of how to watch the match in the rest of the world, please see our ‘How to Watch’ guide on leedsunited.com, ahead of kick-off!

Match passes include video build up, analysis and reaction at video.leedsunited.com. Buy your match pass HERE.

For supporters who are not in attendance and cannot stream the game, you can also follow all the updates live on leedsunited.com with our online blog throughout the match.

A club legend returns!

Important supporter information:

Discriminatory language or chanting is not acceptable and you could be breaking the law. The club condemns this behaviour and has a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination abuse of all kinds.

To report an incident, text LEEDS along with any relevant information including ticket details, your name and description of an incident to 60006. You will then receive an automated response which means that your report has been logged and will then be looked into.

Tough measures and sanctions are in place across all English football leagues to tackle dangerous and illegal behaviours within football grounds, and this involves but is not limited to, discriminatory behaviour, tragedy chanting, fans entering the pitch, the use of pyros and throwing objects.

What has Daniel Farke said ahead of the match?

Head-to-head:

Wins: 48

Draws: 23

Losses: 34

League position

Leeds: 1st

Rovers: 5th

Top scorer:

Leeds: Joel Piroe (9)

Rovers: Yuki Ohashi (5)

Officials:

Referee - Oliver Langford

Assistant Referee - Mark Stevens

Assistant Referee - Matthew McGrath

Fourth Official - Tom Nield