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How Leeds United’s final 10 fixtures compare with Sheffield United and Burnley in Championship title race

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The Championship title race is heating up and Leeds United have a massive task on their hands to keep Sheffield United and Burnley at bay.

As they have for most of the season, Leeds United are leading the way at the top of the Championship table but they have let their commanding position slip through their fingers over the past week.

After late, dramatic victories over promotion rivals Sheffield United and Sunderland, it looked as if Daniel Farke’s side were through on the homestretch to claim the title.

However, after drawing with West Brom and then shockingly losing on the road at Portsmouth, Leeds have opened the door for their title competition to close the gap.

Now, the Whites are only top on goal difference as Sheffield United have matched their points tally of 76, while Burnley are breathing hard down their necks on 74 points.

Position Team Played MP Won W Drawn D Lost L For GF Against GA Diff GD Points Pts
1 LeedsLeeds36 22 10 4 72 23 49 76
2 Sheff UtdSheffield Utd36 24 6 6 51 27 24 76
3 BurnleyBurnley36 20 14 2 49 10 39 74
4 SunderlandSunderland36 19 11 6 54 33 21 68

It looks as if the title race is going to go down to the wire with just 10 fixtures left for each team and here is who they will face.

Portsmouth FC v Leeds United FC - Sky Bet Championship
Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images

Who Leeds United, Burnley and Sheffield United still have left to play

Neil Warnock believes Farke won’t be too worried about the defeat to Portsmouth but supporters might think otherwise given the position it has left the team in.

If Joel Piroe had finished one of his two glorious chances, then Leeds would have still had some leeway but there is now no more room for slip-ups going into the final 10 games of the gruelling campaign.

Here is who each of the three sides still running in the race has left to play.

Leeds UnitedSheffield UnitedBurnley
Millwall (H)Bristol City (H)West Brom (H)
QPR (A)Sheffield Wednesday (A)Swansea City (A)
Swansea City (H)Coventry City (H)Bristol City (H)
Luton Town (A)Oxford United (A)Coventry City (A)
Middlesbrough (A)Millwall (H)Derby County (A)
Preston North End (H)Plymouth Argyle (A)Norwich City (H)
Oxford United (A)Cardiff City (H)Watford (A)
Stoke City (H)Burnley (A)Sheffield United (H)
Bristol City (H)Stoke City (A)QPR (A)
Plymouth Argyle (A)Blackburn Rovers (H)Millwall (H)

Who has the easiest run-in in the Championship title race?

Every team has some difficult fixtures to come and, as Leeds proved by losing to 17th-placed Pompey, you can get beaten by anyone in the Championship.

Yet, on paper at least, the Whites do have the most favourable set of matches. Of the 10 games, Leeds only have to play three more sides that are in the top half of the table and the highest is Bristol City in 7th.

Middlesbrough (9th) and Millwall (12th) are the other two. While both will still be aiming to scrape the play-offs, neither are very consistent.

On the other end, Leeds still have to play five of the league’s bottom nine clubs including the two at the very bottom – Luton Town and Plymouth. However, both of those matches are away and kick-off early, with Leeds struggling to win when playing before 1:30 pm this season.

They travel to Plymouth on the final day and, though a long trip, Argyle’s relegation could already be confirmed by then so they likely won’t have anything to play for.

Sheffield United still have to play four of the top eight, including Bristol, Coventry City and Blackburn Rovers, who might still be fighting for a play-off place, on the final day.

They also still have a massive Steel City derby at Sheffield Wednesday to come, which is far from a comfortable match even if against a bottom half team.

Burnley have the hardest run-in by far as seven of their remaining games come against top half teams and only one – Derby County – is against a team in any sort of relegation trouble.

They too could be facing a club in Millwall that is still fighting for the play-offs on the final day as well.

The biggest advantage Leeds have, of course, is that The Blades and Burnley still have to play one another in the third to last game. A draw would be the best result but whatever happens, one of Leeds’ rivals will take a blow at the worst possible time.

Things are getting nervous for Leeds, but they have the best run-in out of the three title contenders. They just need to keep their heads.