Leeds United’s survival hopes jump significantly as latest Opta Supercomputer predictions revealed

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Leeds United’s hopes of holding onto their Premier League status have jumped significantly following their win over Wolves.

Daniel Farke has enjoyed a strong start to life in the Premier League with Leeds, as he masterminded a morale-boosting win over Wolves.

The victory means Leeds are going stride-for-stride with Marcelo Bielsa’s 2020/21 side, having gained seven points for their opening five games.

At the end of the fifth matchweek, Leeds currently sit in 12th position, four points clear of the relegation places and seven points clear of this weekend’s opponents, Wolves.

Now, having initially predicted Leeds to go down at the start of the season, the Opta Supercomputer has completely changed its opinion on the Whites, as their chances of being relegated were slashed significantly.

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Opta Supercomputer slashes the chances of Leeds United being relegated

At the start of the season, Opta predicted that Leeds would finish in 19th position, with Leeds being relegated in 48% of the scenarios that they ran.

Ahead of the game against Wolves, Leeds’ survival hopes had increased, with Farke’s side predicted to hang onto Premier League survival by their fingertips, finishing 17th with a projected points total of 37.59, marginally ahead of Sunderland’s predicted total of 37.01, in 18th.

However, Leeds’ chances of going down have been slashed dramatically in the latest update following the win over Wolves.

Opta now predict that Leeds will finish in 16th place, leapfrogging West Ham, on 41.31 points. Their chances of relegation have now dropped to just 28.65%, in a big reduction.

The defeat is bad news for Wolves, who now have a 65.71% chance of being relegated and are projected to get just 32.4 points, having lost five consecutive games to start the season.

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Leeds United’s next five games will be crucial to Premier League survival

Although Leeds will believe they could have eight points after the heartbreaking circumstances of the loss against Fulham, they have performed roughly in line with the best-case scenario to date.

However, Farke’s side cannot afford to rest on their laurels as they prepare for a crucial run of fixtures which could go a long way towards determining their future.

Leeds are unbeaten at Elland Road in 22 games, and they would be delighted to maintain that after two difficult-looking home games against Bournemouth and Tottenham before the October international break.

Leeds United’s next five fixtures:

• 27th September – Bournemouth (H)
• 4th October – Tottenham (H)
• 18th October – Burnley (A)
• 24th October – West Ham (H)
• 1st November – Brighton (A)

After that, Leeds face two potentially season-defining games as they travel to Burnley before welcoming West Ham to Elland Road. A trip to Brighton rounds off a run of crucial games.

If Farke’s side can end that run with 14 points from 10 games, matching their tally from the opening five, they should have something of a cushion for their nightmare run of games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool, which follows.