Leeds achieved 90 points last season in a stronger league than the 2024/25 edition appears to be. They face a newly-promoted Portsmouth team that is not proven at this level and lacks Championship experience within their squad, having last been in the second tier all the way back in 2011/12.

Only promoted Ipswich achieved more points in Championship home matches in comparison to Leeds last season. Furthermore, they defeated five of the eventual top-eight in home fixtures, so getting the three points against Portsmouth is what they’ll expect.

Leeds ended the previous campaign ranked top for amount of clean sheets. In addition to this, they only failed to score in three home league contests. With the away side minus their best striker Colby Bishop, that further strengthens the case for a home victory.

Across last season, Leeds were awarded an average of 5.93 corners per league game, and this figure increases to 6.91 when only considering home matches.

In all competitions, Daniel Farke’s side are on a 16-match run in which they have earned a minimum of four corners. Within this stretch, they have averaged 7.13 corners per game, taking at least five corners in 11 of these 16 games.

In the division below, Portsmouth conceded an average of 3.80 corners per game in their title-winning year. In addition to this, they lost the corner count in their final three away league matches in 2023/24; with the opposition averaging 5.33.

Rutter will this season take on more responsibility in terms of netting goals following the departure of top-scorer Crysencio Summerville. He averaged a goal every 3.75 games across the 29 Leeds victories in all competitions that he appeared in last season.

The 22-year-old Frenchman scored as recently as last weekend as Leeds defeated La Liga outfit Valencia in their final pre-season friendly. He also bagged a goal in Leeds’ last home match of the previous campaign, a 4-0 win over Norwich in the play-off semi-final second leg.

Portsmouth holding midfielder Marlon Pack will be tasked with keeping Rutter quiet, but Pompey have only enjoyed a 25% clean sheet return across the previous 20 matches in which their captain has featured.

Leeds won 28 league games (including play-offs) last season, and in 16 of those, they would have cleared this handicap, winning by at least a two-goal margin.

Out of their last 11 wins in all competitions last season, the Elland Road club surpassed a -1 handicap on nine of those occasions, which is an 81.82% success rate.

Leeds are playing their first competitive game since they lost the play-off final in May and they will be particularly fired up, especially in front of their own fans, to put on a show and ensure that setback is behind them.

Alongside promoted Ipswich, Leeds topped the respective 2023/24 Championship tally for winning matches at both half-time and at full-time. Last season Leeds did so in 41.3% of their games.

Based upon first-half home league battles in the previous campaign, Farke’s side were ranked top along with West Brom and Southampton. Leeds would also be the only team in the Championship to go unbeaten when opening the scoring, winning 20 and drawing two of the 22 games in which they found the net first.

Also, only promoted duo Ipswich and Southampton would score a greater number of first half goals compared to Leeds’ 25, which was an average of 1.09 per home league fixture, so seeing them take a lead in at half-time against newly-promoted Pompey looks quite likely here.

Portsmouth averaged 6.04 corners per game on their way to the League One title in 2023/24. This number would only narrowly slip to 5.74 in their away fixtures.

Only once in Pompey’s final 12 matches of the previous season did they fail to be awarded at least three corners. During this period, they would average 4.25 corners per match.

In their 2023/24 Championship campaign, Leeds conceded an average of 4.50 corners per game, so this line looks manageable for a Portsmouth side who will see today’s game as something of a free hit, and be keen to make an impression.