Jobi McAnuff explains why he thinks Leeds United could still fail to get promoted from the Championship

Add as preferred source on Google

The Championship table was good viewing for Leeds United fans at the start of the month but now it will serve as a reminder that The Whites are under intense pressure, ahead of the run-in.

Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley are currently taking a breather amid the pressure cooker of the race for Championship promotion. For Leeds, everything is on the line as The Whites look to win promotion.

Failure to go up will see another firesale of the club’s best players in order to cope financially, as the parachute payments are more than halved in the third year. Daniel Farke is also likely to get the sack.

The German was brought in to win promotion and if he fails to do it in a second season, he will force The 49ers to make a tricky decision. Jobi McAnuff believes Leeds failing to go up is a real possibility.

• READ MORE: Wales fans impressed by Charlie Crew’s performance against England on Wednesday

Why Jobi McAnuff thinks it is possible Leeds United won’t go up

Leeds fans won’t need reminding of what happened last season. Missing out on the top two, Leeds were very much the Burnley of the season during 2023-24, trying to catch the top two but finishing in third.

The disappointment of not achieving automatic promotion culminated in Leeds having to enter the play-offs and it result in defeat to Southampton at Wembley. McAnuff says it’s top two or nothing for Leeds.

“Burnley will be best-equipped to deal with that situation because they haven’t been up there all season, because of the goal situation. There’s no excuse for Leeds, there’s no excuse for Sheffield United,” he said.

“Leeds will be the most-negatively effected by that given the play-off history. It is imperative they get into that top two,” McAnuff said while discussing the promotion race on Sky Sports’ EFL Essential podcast.

Points total if reverse fixtures resulted in same result for Leeds

When the international break is over, Leeds begin their eight-game shootout for a place in the top two when they host Swansea at Elland Road. A game The Whites should really be winning, with relative ease.

Leeds have an easy-ish run-in even if there are no easy games in the Championship. Five of their next eight opponents sit in the bottom third of the table – Swansea, Plymouth, Luton, Stoke and Oxford.

If Leeds secured the same result against each of the eight teams as they did in reverse fixture, Leeds would secure another 20 points and leave them on a total of 100 – easily enough to get promoted.