Leeds United are in the middle of a tight promotion race and only four points separate the top three teams in the Championship with nine games left in the season. The Whites have a two-point lead over second-placed Sheffield United and are four points ahead of Burnley, who are sitting third. It is expected to go down to the wire, but Leeds remain big favourites to get the job done and book their tickets to the Premier League.
A couple of weeks back, Leeds were being backed to win the Championship by ten points and earn automatic promotion on a canter due to their superlative form.
However, a 1-1 draw at home against West Brom and a defeat at Portsmouth last weekend killed the talk of the Whites getting the job done at a comfortable pace.
Leeds did bounce back in midweek when they beat Millwall 2-0 at home on Wednesday night and there is again a sense of calmness around the Whites securing automatic promotion this season.
A tricky trip to Queens Park Rangers will test Leeds’ fortitude on Saturday as the Whites have a poor record at Loftus Road and have lost on their last four trips to the London club.
However, BBC journalist Adam Pope is still insistent that Leeds could still win the Championship and get promoted with a few points to spare this season and he is looking at recent history for his belief.
Leeds United would need a disaster to match the record of recent Championship winners – Pope
Pope has alluded to the level of consistency Leeds have shown this season to suggest that it will not be a surprise if they stretch their lead and win the league on a canter.
He pointed towards the excellent Newcastle United side of the 2016/17 season and the Wolves team of the 2017/18 campaign and compared them with Leeds.
Rafael Benitez’s dominant Newcastle side lost ten games in the league that season while a Wolves team containing Champions League-level players suffered seven defeats in their promotion campaign.
Leeds have lost just four times and have bounced back each time with a victory in the subsequent game.
Pople stressed that Leeds would have to have a disaster in the last nine games to lose as many fixtures as that Newcastle or Wolves team.
“I think they can still win promotion by a good few points the way they are going”, the BBC pundit said on the Square Ball podcast.
“Newcastle, who were like one of the paradigm great Championship sides who went up, and Wolves are in there as well with their Champions League players that year – they lost a lot of games.
“Leeds would have to have a disaster to get anywhere near that.”
Daniel Farke will focus on one game at a time
Leeds United are in prime position to surpass their tally of 90 points from last season and it should be enough this time around to get promoted to the Premier League.
Sheffield United and Burnley showed this week that they are not consistent enough to take advantage even on the rare occasions when the Whites slip up.
However, Farke will continue to focus on one game at a time and keep adding points to their tally in the final nine fixtures of the season.
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Both Leeds fans and supporters want to avoid the playoffs as last season’s defeat in the final is still very fresh in their memories and they do not want any extra drama at the end of the campaign.
Pope is right that Leeds would need an absolute disaster to lose as many games as some of the excellent Championship sides of previous years but the players would not want to tempt fate.
The focus will be on going to QPR on Saturday and ensure that they are still at the summit of the Championship table moving into next week’s international break.
