Chris Sutton drops Leeds United promotion prediction in ‘impressive’ Southampton verdict
Chris Sutton has predicted Leeds United to fall short of promotion ahead of their Championship play-off final clash v Southampton on Sunday (26 May).
The two sides are set to go head-to-head at Wembley Stadium, battling it out for the third and final promotion spot after Leicester City and Ipswich Town secured promotion automatically.
The Whites overcame Norwich City at Elland Road in a 4-0 victory while the Saints were able to beat West Brom 3-1 at St Mary’s Stadium, with each of their semi-final first-leg ties finishing 0-0.
Speaking via the It’s All Kicking Off podcast on Thursday (23 May), Sutton said: “Before a ball was kicked in the play-offs, I thought Southampton would be the team to come back up.
“I just think they’ve been so impressive under Russell Martin this season. They have the belief and the momentum. It’s a tough one to call but if I was picking a team, I would fancy Southampton to edge it against Leeds United.”
Can Leeds United pip Southampton to Championship play-off glory?
Daniel Farke will be hoping that his team can thrive off the positivity from their 4-0 win over Norwich at Elland Road. However, anyone will know that anything can happen in the play-off finals.
Also, Leeds will have to achieve a feat they have yet to do this season – beat Southampton. The two sides have met twice so far, with Martin’s squad claiming victory in both games, 3-1 and 2-1.
It has already been discussed how detrimental it could be for Leeds if they were to miss out on promotion back to the Premier League, especially when it comes to the financial side of the game.
Of course, with several loanees away from Elland Road this season, the club will have plenty of choices of how to raise money if worse comes to worst. Leeds will want to have control over their own destiny, though.
It would be extremely disappointing if the Whites were to miss out after such a special Championship campaign, especially after the way they dropped out of the top two spots, giving up their place to Ipswich.
With Farke at the helm, having experienced two promotions with Norwich, the hope will be that the manager is relying on every piece of that to get the team through the play-off final on Sunday.
In other Leeds news, Phil Hay has shared details of the bizarre agreement that saw one Whites starlet choose Elland Road over Manchester City.
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