Leeds United reclaimed their top spot in the Championship on Tuesday night, moving ahead of both Burnley and Sheffield United.
The Championship promotion race isn’t failing to deliver in terms of excitement right now, especially so from a Leeds United point of view although Whites supporters have been through the ringer in the last week or so.
Tuesday night saw Leeds United beat Middlesbrough 1-0 away from home, leapfrogging both Burnley and Sheffield United after the Clarets drew at Derby County and the Blades lost at home to Millwall.
Both Daniel Farke and Chris Wilder were fuming with refereeing decisions in their respective games. But ahead of the weekend, expect Farke to be the much happier manager whereas Wilder’s Sheffield United have now lost their last two.
On Friday night, Burnley host Norwich City. Then on Saturday Sheffield United head to Plymouth Argyle whilst Leeds United welcome Paul Heckingbottom’s Preston North End to Elland Road.
Danny Murphy backs Leeds United to win the Championship title
Speaking on talkSPORT in wake of Tuesday night’s movement at the top of the Championship table, pundit and former England midfielder Danny Murphy was asked for his thoughts on who goes on to win automatic promotion this season, and he backed Leeds United to go on and win the title.
Murphy explained: “I looked at the fixtures last night, funnily enough, and Leeds – although they’ve only won two in seven – their fixtures are quite kind, so you’d expect Leeds to win it, to go up now, and I hope they do.” Then asked for his verdict on 2nd place, Murphy added: “I’d like to see Burnley do it, for Scotty Parker.”
After drawing against Derby on Tuesday night, Burnley are now on an incredible 28 game unbeaten run in the Championship. Perhaps eve more astounding is the fact that the Clarets have only conceded 12 goals in 41 Championship games this season.
Leeds United’s remaining fixtures compared to Burnley and Sheffield United
Leeds United fans won’t be counting on their team having a kinder run of fixtures to see out the season: not after recent weeks where Leeds United have lost against Portsmouth and struggled against Luton Town.
But Murphy is right in that Leeds’ remaining fixtures are looking fairly favourable, with Saturday’s opponents Preston sitting in 16th and with just one win in their last nine league fixtures too.
| Leeds fixtures | Sheff Utd fixtures | Burnley fixtures |
| Preston (H) | Plymouth (A) | Norwich (H) |
| Oxford (A) | Cardiff (H) | Watford (A) |
| Stoke (H) | Burnley (A) | Sheff Utd (H) |
| Bristol City (H) | Stoke (A) | QPR (A) |
| Plymouth (A) | Blackburn (H) | Millwall (H) |
The big game of course is Burnley against Sheffield United on April 21st. The winner of that may well go on to win automatic promotion from the Championship, unless Leeds fall well out of contention by then, in which case both Burnley and Sheffield United could go up automatically.
For Farke and his players, it’s just about taking it game by game now.
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