‘Only Leeds’ – Scott Parker makes Whites claim ahead of Fulham play-off on Monday
Manager Scott Parker has said that he thinks only Leeds United have been a better side than Fulham in the 19/20 Championship.
Fulham start their play-off bid tonight against Cardiff after Swansea beat Brentford 1-0 in the first leg of the other semi-final on Sunday.
Leeds won the Championship at a canter after some stunning end-of-season form. West Brom held onto the other automatic spot despite taking just one point from the last two games.
Talking to the Times in a piece titled, “Only Leeds better than my Fulham”, Parker said that he hoped his side would be seen as the equal of West Brom soon.
“West Brom and Brentford have been spoken about very highly, and rightly so, but we were level on points with Brentford and won more games than West Brom, who won 22,” Parker said.
“We’ve done a very good job in that sense. What my team have done this year needs to be rewarded as well.”
Leeds – worthy champions
The stats said that Leeds were by far the best team in the Championship all season but it took until the end for that to be reflected in the table.
These graphs from the brilliant Ben Mayhew show just how dominant they’ve been.
It meant a nervy end to the season for Leeds fans, although securing promotion with two games to go was a relief.
Leeds didn’t take their foot off the pedal, though, beating Derby 3-1 and blowing Charlton away 4-0.
The last six games of the season were pretty incredible for Leeds. Six wins, with 17 goals for and just two conceded.
Fulham were the second form team over those last six games after Brentford fell away – Thomas Frank’s side lost both of their last two games.
Ironically, just one win in those last two would have seen Brentford promoted automatically.
Fulham won four and drew two of their last six games and have the momentum going into the play-offs.
However, we’d still like Brentford to do it so we get to see Pontus Jansson in the Premier League. Sorry, Scott.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay delivers update from Bielsa sources on future at Leeds after shock Barcelona report