This weekend, referee David Coote will take charge of Leeds United’s next Premier League fixture – and that may not bode well for the Whites.
No doubt, plenty of eyes will be keenly watching this match at the King Power Stadium as it will see new manager Jesse Marsch oversee his first game as Leeds boss.
Already keeping tabs on the build-up to their clash against Leicester City, BBC journalist Adam Pope recently tweeted that the game would be officiated by Coote.
He added that the assistants are Stuart Burt and Nick Hopton, the fourth official is Simon Hooper, while Jarred Gillett is the VAR and will be assisted by Dan Robathan.
Unfortunately for fans of the West Yorkshire club, if past history is anything to go by, this may not be good news.
Coote v Leeds
In the current league campaign, when Coote has refereed a Leeds game, they have failed to win. Indeed, they lost away at Southampton 1-0 back in October. More recently, he also oversaw their 2-2 draw against Brentford at Elland Road in December (via Transfermarkt).
However, he has only officiated two of the club’s games this season, so there is a relatively small sample size. And when you consider Leeds have only won five of their 26 matches in the Premier League this season, this stat is not a total shock.
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Card risk
Beyond that, they may expect to pick up a few yellow cards. Indeed, across the two games Coote has been in charge of, he has dished out seven yellow cards for Leeds. Across their entire league campaign, the club have 75 cards from 26 games. This is an average of 2.8 cards per game, which suggests they get booked more than average under this official.
One other thing of note is that from a total of 18 games involving Leeds, Coote has sent off two Whites players – he is yet to show more straight reds to players from another club.
TIF Verdict on the referee appointment…
Still, when you look across the span of his career and the 18 Leeds games he has officiated, the club have won eight, lost eight, and drawn the other two. So, in reality, it looks as though this game against the Foxes really could go either way if Coote’s record is anything to go by.
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