Club captain Alan Thompson has returned from his loan spell at Hartlepool, but Rui Marques will take the captain’s armband for the game against Crewe Alexandra.

Thompson is likely to start on the bench, and Gary Mc.Allister explained "Nothing has changed. Andrew Hughes is missing with injury and Jonathan Douglas is still out, so all being well Rui will be the captain against Crewe Alexandra." But Thommo could take the field at some stage, and the manager said of his fellow free-kick specialist "I'm looking forward to having Alan back. I've said before about what he can bring in a set-piece situation, so we'll have a look."

Last week's postponement means that Jermaine Beckford will now have to serve his one match suspension tomorrow. It’s been reported that in his absence Flo is likely to start alongside Kandol, but some of us would prefer to see Elding take the field, while the Norweigian rests his ancient limbs until later in the game. One other piece of team news in that Neil Kilkenny will be back after his ankle injury.

On the official site, Macca was hoping that the Elland Road crowd can inspire his side to the first win of his spell as boss, but also thought that the other sides in this division tend to raise their game against Leeds. “I'm not saying it's everybody's cup final, but I feel Leeds are the biggest club and we are big scalp. There's a big crowd and more media attention, but they've coped with that, and that's something the players have to thrive on at a club of this stature. I've said that we have to use the crowd to our advantage, and by that I don't mean fear of making mistakes, but by going out and expressing yourselves.”

Macca wasn’t in charge when we beat Crewe a month ago, but this week he watched a video of the game and said “It was comfortable on the night, but over the years of watching Crewe they are a club that is run well, and they encourage youngsters to get the ball to feet and play it properly.” But the league table shows that Crewe have had a difficult time this season after the departure of long-serving boss Dario Gradi, and they’re currently sitting uncomfortably in 19^th. place, just two points above the relegation positions.

But despite his club’s current predicament, Crewe’ veteran Neil Cox thinks that the railwaymen are running into a bit of form, and he told his club’s official website "We have had a couple of decent results of late and look to have come back into a little bit of form. We managed to come back against Swansea, from being 2-0 down at half-time and then we played really well at Leyton Orient. I think when the fixtures come out in the summer, everyone looks for Leeds United at Elland Road. It is a big game for us and it is something everyone is looking forward to.”

Crewe also seem to be delighted that our leading scorer will be out, even though Beckford seems to have lost a bit of form in recent weeks. Becks scored only goal at Gresty Road last month,  and Crewe’s boss Steve Holland told his local paper "Perhaps that is the bit of luck which helps us along the way. He was the difference between the two teams when we played them at home. Without any doubt Beckford is one of the leading forwards in this division.”

Despite Beckford’s absence, I think we can be reasonably optimistic that we will be too strong for Crewe in this game, so I’ll go for Leeds to win by a couple of goals.

Photo: Action Images

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