By Craig Scott

24th Jun, 2020 | 10:30am

MOT View: If anyone is going to derail Leeds promotion bid, it's this Fulham player

Leeds United fans shudder of the thought of coming up against a team that boasts Tom Cairney in their midfield.

The 29-year-old has made 11 appearances against Leeds in his career and has not lost on any of those occasions.

But it is not as though the Scotland international has been a bystander in those matches against the Whites.

Cairney has scored four goals and supplied three assists in those 11 appearances against Leeds for both Hull and Fulham.

After losing to Cardiff on Sunday, Leeds missed out on the chance to open up the gap between themselves and third-placed Fulham to 10 points.

Scott Parker’s men lost 2-0 at home to Brentford before the Yorkshire giants were beaten 2-0 in South Wales.

Both teams will be itching to return to winning ways when they come up against each other at Elland Road this weekend.

Fulham know they can move within four points of Marcelo Bielsa’s side with a win in West Yorkshire and with Cairney in their side, they’ll be confident they can do it.

Cairney is not only a good player against Leeds.

According to stats by WyScout, the former Hull midfielder has averaged 3.2 passes into the penalty area per 90 minutes of Championship football this term, while also boasting an 89.3 per cent pass accuracy.

WhoScored ranks Cairney as sixth in the league for passes per appearance [59.7] and joint-eighth in the Championship for short-range key passes made per appearance [1.6] out of players with more than 10 outings.

Only Harry Arter and Romaine Sawyers have a better pass accuracy than the Fulham playmaker, who could be the biggest threat towards derailing Leeds’ promotion bid this weekend.

It would be panic stations if we lose to Fulham so let’s hope we can finally end the Cairney curse and pick up three points against the West London side.

In other Leeds United news, fans have been reacting as this defender’s exit was confirmed.