The 2024-25 Championship is four games in with Sunderland atop the table with 12 points and West Bromwich Albion occupying the automatic promotion spot with 10 points. As for Leeds United, they’re in fourth place with eight points.
In September, the league could begin to take shape to determine which clubs will be challenging to win the Championship and finish in second place for the automatic promotion to the Premier League.
The Whites have won two of the first four matches, drawing in the other two. However, with Sunderland winning all four of their contests and West Brom winning three of their four games, Daniel Farke and his team have ground to make up.
Carlton Palmer still has high hopes for Leeds
Despite being in fourth place, one former player isn’t backing out of their preseason prediction that Leeds would earn automatic promotion to the Premier League this season. Palmer notes that it takes 10 fixtures to get a clear picture of the contenders for the automatic promotion.
“I fancied Leeds United and Luton Town to get automatic promotion, but Luton are sat second from bottom in the table right now,” Palmer told Football League World.
“I certainly didn’t see that happening, three defeats in their first four games, but there is still a long way to go in the season. Leeds [have had] so many upheavals and especially late on in the transfer window, and they’re in a play-off position so I’m not going to change my view on that.”
Even though Sunderland and West Brom are off to surprising starts this season, Palmer believes that Leeds will be right there with them. He notes that The Whites will get better as the season progresses.
“I didn’t envisage that Sunderland would be top of the league unbeaten, and I didn’t envisage West Brom being second,” Palmer added. “I thought West Brom would be around the play-offs, but Sunderland, I didn’t expect their transformation to take place as quickly as it has done in such a short period of time.
“Twelve points on the board after four games, and the way they’re playing makes them serious candidates for the play-offs. I think Leeds are going to grow stronger, Burnley will be strong and so will Sheffield United, because all of those clubs have the power, come January, to go and reinvest in their squad.”