EVEN a tactical tweak may not be enough to prevent Erling Haaland on the return to his home city tomorrow night (8pm), writes Martin Jarred.

Haaland has already netted 18 times in just 13 games for Manchester City and will be short odds to find the back of the net against Leeds United’s leaky defence.

Leeds are one short of equalling the Premier League record for goals conceded in a calendar year, which stands at 70 in 2003.

Haaland’s father, Alf-Inge, played for Leeds in the late 1990s before joining Man City.

Last season, Pep Guardiola’s side put 11 goals past Leeds without reply, thumping the Whites 7-0 at home and 4-0 in West Yorkshire – both results coming before goal-machine Haaland arrived in the summer from Borussia Dortmund for £51m.

In a bid to make Leeds more defensively secure, Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch, under whom Haaland worked at Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg, made a slight change in the mid-season friendly outings against Real Sociedad and AS Monaco.

Marsch has deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation in all Premier League games this season, with a lone striker playing ahead of three attack-minded players.

In the two friendlies Leeds retained that set-up but when they found themselves out of possession they switched a 4-3-3 system.

It is clearly designed to offer more defensive protection but Leeds will not only need to get their tactics spot on but rely on City having a rare off-day.

There was little sign of that when an imperious City beat rivals Liverpool 3-2 at the Etihad in the Carabao Cup on their return to action on Friday.

Perhaps some of the biggest pressure on City at Elland Road will come from the Premier League table.

Arsenal’s 3-1 win against West Ham United on Boxing Day opened up an eight-point gap ahead of City, who slipped to third place behind Newcastle United, 3-0 winners at Leicester City.

City have played two games less than the Magpies and their game in hand over Arsenal is against Leeds.

One man who will not be in the Leeds dugout is Mark Jackson, the coach having moved on to manage MK Dons.

Jackson's new side beat fellow Sky Bet League One strugglers Forest Green Rovers 1-0 in his first game in charge on Boxing Day.

A former Whites player, Leeds-born Jackson worked his way through the coaching ranks from Under-15s in 2015 to first team coach.

Meanwhile, Leeds’ 29-year-old Spanish international defender Diego Llorente has signed a three-and-a-half-year extension to his contract running until the summer of 2026.

Llorente joined the Whites in 2020 after the club’s promotion to the Premier League but is unlikely to start against Man City as he is short of match fitness after recovering from hand surgery.