Swansea manager makes automatic promotion prediction on ‘incredible’ Leeds United ahead of Championship clash

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Swansea City manager Luke Williams has heaped the praise on Leeds United ahead of the two sides’ meeting in the Championship.

Leeds travel to South Wales on Sunday looking for their first win on the road since Cardiff City two months ago, as they look to move back into the top two.

Williams came up against Leeds just the once last season as Swansea boss but very quickly learned the sort of quality Daniel Farke has at his disposal.

Leeds demolished the Swans 4-0 away from home back in February with Wilfried Gnonto (2) and Joel Piroe among those on the scoresheet who could be in the starting line-up this weekend.

With Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley the only sides to have conceded less than Swansea this season, Williams has helped his team make some significant strides defensively, but this will arguably be their toughest test yet.

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Luke Williams hails ‘incredible’ Leeds ahead of Swansea clash

Though Leeds don’t currently occupy a place in the Championship’s top two, the underlying numbers point towards it being just a matter of time until they do so.

Leeds have conceded the lowest amount of expected goals against (xGA) while creating the second highest expected goals (xG) in the division.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Williams spoke of that data as a clear example of what an ‘incredible’ side Leeds are.

He then also went onto tip Leeds to secure an automatic promotion place in the Championship come the end of the season.

He said: “Oh Leeds are an absolutely fabulous team to be quite honest at this level. If you don’t look at the images of the team on the screen, and you just look at the stats and the data, they are incredible. Then if you actually open your eyes and watch them, you realise they are incredible.

“We know what we’re up against, but I think we’ve competed this season against top sides in the division better than we did last season. So we have to take some confidence from that, be brave and try make a really good performance at home where we’ve been pretty good.

“This is going to be the ultimately challenge. We’re going to have to be immaculate defensively and ruthless at the other end to have a chance of being really competitive. I think they will [finish in the top two] and I don’t say that like there aren’t other excellent sides.”

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Why Williams is so impressed with Leeds’ data

It is not often that managers openly use the data from opposition sides as a way of praising them, but it is clearly something Williams has looked heavily into.

And as mentioned, he has every good reason to, as Leeds are the top for so many statistics across the Championship this season.