Leeds have failed to score from open play in five of their eight league games
West Ham have conceded a league-high 18 goals
Recommended bet: Under 1.5 goals
The Premier League season is just eight games old but Friday's meeting between Leeds and West Ham already feels like a huge match at the bottom.
Leeds lost at Elland Road for the first time in over a year in their last home match against Tottenham, while new West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo will be desperate to claim a first win after taking a single point from his first three matches at the helm.
Team news
Leeds wingers Wilfried Gnonto and Noah Okafor look set to miss out again while captain Ethan Ampadu and Pascal Struijk are struggling with illness.
Jaka Bijol could make his first Premier League start in place of Struijk while Ao Tanaka should deputise for Ampadu if he fails to make it. There is better news about Dan James, who returned as a substitute in Saturday's defeat at Burnley.
West Ham centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos picked up an injury in Monday's 2-0 home loss to Brentford and joins Niclas Fullkrug and George Earthy on the sidelines.
Full-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf are set to return for the visitors, though.
The stats
West Ham have won four of their last six league games against Leeds.
Both teams have scored in nine of the last 10 league meetings between Leeds and West Ham.
Leeds have taken the sixth-most shots in the Premier League this season, 73, but have scored only seven goals.
West Ham have conceded a league-high 18 goals this season.
The latest Leeds vs West Ham odds are available on LiveScore Bet
Prediction
It is only the end of October but Friday's meeting between Leeds and West Ham could be of huge significance in the race to stave off relegation.
Leeds are 16th with eight points from as many games, three places higher than the Hammers, who have just four points to their name.
A Leeds win would put clear daylight between themselves and the bottom three, whereas three points for West Ham would bring those at the bottom even closer together.
Tensions could therefore be running high and this has all the hallmarks of a cagey affair where one goal might be enough.
Half of West Ham's six league goals this term were scored in a 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest, who were managed by new Hammers boss Nuno at the time, while Leeds have failed to score from open play in five of their first eight games back in the big time and squandered a host of chances at Burnley last weekend.
The Whites have been extremely competitive in almost every game this season, and their defence and midfield certainly looks up to this elevated level.
However, they are struggling to fashion clear-cut chances and are counting the cost of not beefing up their attack enough over the summer.
Back under 1.5 goals at 9/4 with LiveScore Bet
The latest Leeds vs West Ham odds are available on LiveScore Bet
