[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Well, whether by luck or judgement, we've now won a game of football this season... which is more than can be said for this week's opponents. Since their heartbreaking relegation (stop laughing), Leeds have suffered a disastrous exodus of players (really, stop laughing), barely escaped from their campaign opener against last year's no-hopers Cardiff with a comeback draw (no, honestly, stop laughing), and capped a magnificent fortnight for football-lovers everywhere when they lost to a last-gasp penalty at Birmingham on Saturday, extending their winless run of league games to eleven (an oxygen mask is available at this point if you require it).

Not that any of this makes Elland Road a more attractive place to visit on Friday night, either competitively, aesthetically or spiritually. Albion have failed to win the last five against Leeds stretching back to 2019, and our sole win of the 21st century in LS11 - indeed, our only triumph in Leeds since the Boomtown Rats were at #1 with Rat Trap - came in January 2007 courtesy of Jonno Greening and Diomansy Kamara; our last three visits have been consecutive defeats with an aggregate score of 8-1 to Leeds. As if that wasn't enough, no current Championship side has lost more away games in 2023 than Albion, and for good measure, the last time Carlos Corberan locked horns with Daniel Farke on the road, his Huddersfield side went down 7-0 to Norwich. I think that more or less covers the omens of impending doom, unless I've missed any baleful meteors or many-headed abominations shambling forth from Gehenna in my excitement for this highly-promising awayday.

Still, history was also against us versus Swansea and we contrived to come out on top, so who knows? Maybe the underdog role suits us. All the same, a point this week would be a very welcome outcome.