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Carlton Palmer stands by Leeds United promotion prediction despite Southampton defeat
Carlton Palmer has stood by his prediction that Leeds United will be promoted to the Premier League this season, despite the Whites’ defeat to Southampton.
Daniel Farke’s side ended their six-match unbeaten run when they were well beaten by Russell Martin’s Saints on Saturday (30 September) and after an initially slow start before a good run of form, the Whites currently sit ninth in the Championship.
Leicester City currently lead the way having only lost once so far this season and lead Leeds by 11 points, with Ipswich Town occupying the second automatic promotion spot with a nine-point gap to Farke’s side, but Palmer still believes United will find their way into the top two by the end of the campaign.
Speaking to Football League World (3 October) he said: “I think Leicester are very strong and Maresca has done a fantastic job thus far. It’s still early in the season, but they’re going to take a lot of stopping.
“I predicted Leeds and Leicester to go up automatically, and I am sticking to that prediction.”
Work to be done
It is still incredibly early in the season to be talking about promotion and play-off races, but if Leeds have hopes of finishing in the top two places of the Championship, they have some work to do to catch the pack currently leading the race.
Leicester almost feels like a shoo-in for one of the two spaces and likely the top spot as they have only conceded six times all year and are scoring goals for fun, while Ipswich have impressed following their promotion from League One last season.
For most of September, Farke’s side showed the sort of form that you would expect from a side vying for those top places and it would be incredibly reactionary to suddenly expect them to piss out on promotion just because of the defeat to Southampton.
In the Championship everyone tends to drop points given the competitive nature of the division, it was just the manner of the defeat which was unfortunate.
As long as Farke can react immediately when Leeds United take on QPR on Wednesday (4 October) there will be little need to panic and then the German will fancy his luck in matches against Bristol City, Norwich and Stoke, who have all been inconsistent so far this season.
There may be an early gap in the table, but Leeds have only looked better and better with each week (barring the Southampton defeat) so you wouldn’t bet against them catching up with the top two as the season rumbles on.
In other Leeds United news, it seems the Whites were right to sell Tyler Adams this summer as his injury woes continue