Former Premier League winner Lee Sharpe believes Leeds United will achieve promotion to the Premier League this season following their excellent recent form.
The Whites suffered a summer of uncertainty following their relegation last season, with a number of key stars subject to constant transfer speculation. As a result, manager Daniel Farke had to begin the campaign with a squad in disarray whilst incomings and outgoings were negotiated.
This saw Leeds start life in the Championship poorly, winning just one of their opening five games. However, the end of the transfer window brought a degree of stability and their form since has seen them move up to third in the table, seven points behind the top two.
Understandably, the Yorkshire side are one of the favourites to secure a spot in the top tier in May, a view echoed by three-time Premier League winner Lee Sharpe.
The midfielder became a cult hero at Manchester United before departing the club for Leeds in 1996. A successful first season at Elland Road was followed by a career-threatening knee injury which ruled him out of the entire 1997/98 campaign. He departed the club in 1999 after a couple of loan spells, first in Serie A with Sampdoria and then with Bradford City, who he later joined on a permanent basis.
The ex-England international believes his former club will achieve promotion this year, whether that be via the automatic places or the play-offs. Speaking to 888sport, the 52-year-old said;
“I expect Leeds to get promoted. Whether they can do it via the automatic promotion positions or not is difficult. You see teams like Leicester – with Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds all chasing them down, you’d half expect them to drop off a little bit. Hopefully, Leeds can earn automatic promotion, but I think they’ll do it via the playoffs if they don’t.
“They seem to be in a good run of form at the moment, chasing down the top two. There are some big clubs around them – you’ve got Leicester, who are top of the league and Southampton, who are just behind them, so it’s a really, really tough division to get out of. It looks like the Premier League teams who got relegated last season are becoming stronger towards the second half of the season, and Leeds are no exception.”
Leeds face a tough battle tomorrow afternoon when they host fellow promotion contenders Middlesbrough, who sit three points outside the play-off places.
Writer’s View
It looked a tough ask for Leeds in the opening stages of the season, but they now have to be considered one of the favourites to get out of the division. Daniel Farke has built a squad which looks Premier League-ready and they are quietly ebbing away at the gap opened up by Leicester City and Ipswich Town above them.
With the Foxes faltering in recent weeks, the onus is on Ipswich to maintain their form. It will be interesting to see if Kieran McKenna can keep up their staggering run, with themselves having only earnt promotion from League One last season. Leeds will be ready to pounce on the first sign of weakness shown by either team.
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