
Leeds United sit second in the Championship standings and are on course to match their 90-point haul from last season, which was not good enough to get them promoted. However, the 2023/24 campaign was an outlier and on any other season, they would have been playing Premier League football now. The ongoing season is shaping up like a more normal Championship campaign and that’s why Leeds are one of the favourites to earn automatic promotion.
The Whites are shaping up for a busy period of festive fixtures when their squad and their mettle will get tested with three of their next five games set to be away from home.
Leeds need to work to improve their away form as three wins in 10 on the road is not good enough and teams earning automatic promotion in previous seasons did far better.
The Whites expect to win their home game against Oxford United on Saturday but have a tricky away trip to Stoke City before a trip to Pride Park to take on Derby County on 29th January.
Looking back at last season, Leeds struggled during the festive period but it was what they did in the New Year that truly pushed them towards automatic promotion, which they ultimately failed to achieve.
However, a similar run of form this season could more or less confirm Leeds’ ticket to the Premier League as not every year would a team miss out on promotion after scoring 90 points.
Leeds United were staggeringly good at the start of 2024
Back-to-back away defeats at Preston and West Brom meant Leeds went into 2024 low on confidence with their promotion hopes tottering on the edge.
Daniel Farke needed a response from his team and the Leeds players needed to step up if they were to be serious contenders for promotion to the Premier League last season.
The fightback started at Elland Road on New Year’s Day when they hammered Birmingham City 3-0 and the team never looked back from there on.
Farke’s men won a staggering nine league games on the trot and the winning run only came to an end in a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield Town. Leeds won four of the next five games and their first defeat of 2024 came on 6th April in a 2-1 loss at Coventry City.
During that famous run, Leeds had victories over Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City, Cardiff City, Norwich City and even, eventual Championship winners Leicester City.
In total Leeds won 13 and drew two of their 15 games at the start of 2024 to ensure they remained in the hunt for promotion until the end of the season.
Can Leeds replicate that in 2025?
This Leeds United side have been as good as last season’s team and the numbers clearly show that. While their away form is a concern, they have been imperious at home, winning nine of their eleven games at Elland Road thus far.
And they have a good chance to fix their away woes in the next fortnight if they play to their strengths and take care of teams they should be beating.
Replicating last season’s New Year form would be tough but not impossible. Leeds are yet to lose at home and there is a chunk of games at Elland Road towards the start of 2025.
The key to getting into that rhythm would be to fix their form on the road and continue to find ways to get those three points regularly at home.
If Leeds decide to bring in a new face or two in the winter window, they could have even more options to rotate the squad and keep the players fresh.
However, given how the season is shaping up if Leeds get anywhere close to what they did in the first few months of 2024, in 2025, they would be well on course to play in the Premier League in the 2025/26 campaign.
