Tomorrow’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers could be a good opportunity to break our poor run of results away from home, but as ever we’ve got one or two fitness problems to sort out first.

Leeds go into tomorrow’s game six points behind the play-off positions, but it seems we’ve been that far behind sixth place for months, and sooner or later we’re going to have to start closing the gap. And it’s our away form that’s keeping us down there, with only one league win in the last six on our travels.

We’ve only won three away games all season, and all of them were against teams in the current bottom eight, so you could say it’s a good job we’re playing another one tomorrow. But Neil Warnock was a bit more cautious when he spoke to the Yorkshire Post, “You’ve only got to look at Wolves’ team sheet to know that they’ve got top players in the club. They’ll be desperately hoping for a win against us to lift their season and get it up and away.”

The manager will have a few fitness tests to get through before he can name his team, and we could be seeing a change of strikers.  Ross McCormack is doubtful after withdrawing from the Scotland squad in midweek through illness, but Steve Morison might be able to replace him if he recovers in time from the injury that kept him out of the Cardiff game.

Morison told the Yorkshire Post “I’ve had five weeks of getting back fit and I’m just about ready. The club erred on the side of caution (on Saturday) because the last thing they wanted was to throw me in, get me involved and then find that something wasn’t right. It’s given me a few days to get myself perfect and get ready for Wolves away. I can’t wait to get myself going.”

Unfortunately Davide Somma appears to have had another setback in his recovery from a knee problem, with Warnock suggesting that he might have tried to come back too soon just after Christmas. He may now miss the rest of the season to complete his rehabilitation, so Habib Habibou is likely to get a place on the bench. We were fairly unimpressed with the African’s debut against Cardiff, but at least that was against the top side in the division, so will he look the part against lesser opposition?

Elsewhere on the field Steve Warnock is another signing who could make his debut after missing the Cardiff game with injury, in his case a thigh problem. Hopefully he will have recovered in time, as Leeds are much more balanced with a proper left back, which allows Peltier to play in the centre or at right back.

 Wolves have sunk to 21st place, having been relegated from the Premier League in a state of disarray during the closing weeks of last season. Ståle Solbakken’s spell in charge failed to stop the rot and the Norwegian was sacked at the start January, with Dean Saunders being recruited from Doncaster as his replacement. But they haven’t won any of the Welshman’s four games so far, and he admitted to the Yorskhire Post that he’s got a lot to do to lift the mood in the camp.

“It’s the losing mentality. It’s hard to shrug it off and you forget how to win. It’s self doubt, as a group and as individuals. We’ve all been there. It could be playing pool in the local pub – some days you pot everything but before you know it you’re missing everything. It drags on because of self doubt and only results can change that.”

But he also said “It’s a good game for us against Leeds. They’re a good club who’ll bring lots of support with them. They’re a tough team and we’ve got respect for them but I think it’s a game we can win. If we play like we did against Leicester and Blackpool we can win.” We’re obviously not famous any more!

Saunders could have midfielders Slawomir Peszko and Dave Edwards and striker Kevin Doyle, back from injury to assist him in his quest, but defender Roger Johnson will be out as he completes his two-match ban.

Despite Sauders’ brave words I still think Leeds will be good enough to beat his rabble, so I’ll stick my neck out and predict a rare away win for the mighty whites.

Photo: Action Images

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