Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Leeds Live
Leeds Live
Sport
Nathan Bliss

We simulated Swansea vs Leeds United to see what could have happened on Easter Monday

The coronavirus pandemic has seen mass cancellation of football matches, including all of the fixtures around Easter, with Leeds United's trip Liberty Stadium on Easter Monday to take on Swansea City rightly called off, along with all other SkyBet Championship fixtures.

But, if Leeds can't play the game in real-life, we thought we'd play the game for them on the virtual pitch, using FIFA 20.

So, what could have happened in the match between Swansea and Leeds United on Easter Monday? Well, we tried to find out.

Swansea vs Leeds United score predicted by FIFA 20

To set up this simulation, we used kick-off mode on FIFA 20 but didn't select a team to control; we then selected the teams and watched the match play out by itself, to give us a unique prediction.

The AI difficulty was set to legendary, with the lineup updated with the latest injuries and suspensions, to make sure it was as realistic as possible.

We predict that Swansea could have set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their lineup as follows: Woodman; Naughton, Cabango, Rodon, Bidwell; Grimes, Fulton; Celina, Gallagher, Ayew; Brewster.

We predicted that Leeds United could have set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with the lineup as follows: Meslier, Ayling, White, Cooper, Dallas; Phillips; Costa, Klich, Hernandez, Harrison; Bamford.

FIFA 20 predicts that Leeds United wouldn't have had it all of their own way at the Liberty Stadium, but they would still manage to come out with a positive result.

In what was quite a strange situation for Marcelo Bielsa's side, Swansea were dominating possession and that stopped Leeds getting a hold on the game in the way they would want to.

But the home side weren't very threatening with the ball, with Meslier not overly busy.

In fact, the only time he was called into action in the first-half was from a looping shot from Brewster after 20 minutes, which he tipped over the bar.

As the half progressed, Bielsa's side grew into the game, adapting their game plan slightly and were looking a real threat on the break. And after 35 minutes, they got their reward.

Helder Costa led an incisive breakaway from Leeds, breaking forward from right and surging into the Swansea box, before sending a low cross into the area where Mateusz Klich was waiting to tap home,

A great goal from Leeds.

In the second-half, the Swans continued to dominate possession, with Leeds always offering a threat on the counter-attack. The home side couldn't muster many chances though, with United's defence holding firm.

For Leeds, their only chance of the second-half fell to substitute Jean-Kévin Augustin, whose shot flew just over the bar.

Overall, Leeds adapted to the situation and came away with a big three points.

Full-time score: Swansea City 0-1 Leeds United

Here are the full-time match stats.

As you can see, Swansea had most of the ball during the game, but couldn't manage as many efforts on goal as Leeds.

United's best player was Helder Costa, who set up the only goal of the game and put in a great performance.

We won't get any football this weekend sadly, but FIFA 20 predicts that if Leeds had made the trip to the Liberty Stadium on Easter Monday to take on Swansea City, they would have had to adapt, but still would have managed to come away with all three points in the end.

Obviously, everyone's main concern is the health of everyone, including players, staff and fans, so the virtual version of the game will have to do for now!

What do you make of our FIFA 20 simulation?

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.