Darren Ambrose gushes over ‘massive’ Leeds United in Championship promotion prediction live on talkSPORT
Darren Ambrose has insisted Leeds United, Leicester and Southampton remain the favourites for automatic promotion from the Championship due to their strength in depth.
The former Ipswich star shared his delight at seeing his former club competing with the three relegated Premier League clubs, having only been promoted from League One last season.
Ambrose claimed the top two would be slightly out of reach for Ipswich, with Leeds among the clubs with the best depth in the league, although he has backed Kieran McKenna’s side to win promotion through the playoffs.
Speaking live on talkSPORT [09:26], Ambrose shared: “Ipswich, I’d have a lot of confidence in Kieran [McKenna] to navigate through the playoffs and go up, but I think the top two is just a little bit out of reach.
“I thought this when they were eight, nine points clear in second place. The strength in depth of Leicester, Leeds and Southampton in particular, they’re the best squads in the division. It’s just nice to see Ipswich in amongst those massive clubs.”
Leeds will be competitive
Competition for the automatic promotion places between the three relegated Premier League sides is beginning to hot up with all three showing how strong they are for this level, and Southampton’s emergence and winning run has made things even more difficult for Leeds.
It was shown against Preston that Daniel Farke’s side have the desired amount of fight in the team to earn promotion, it’s those types of tight games that so often make the difference and that late win will serve as an inspiration.
The playoffs are a lottery, and Leeds will want to avoid getting drawn into them. Ambrose’s backing of Ipswich is fair in that situation, anything can happen as Leeds know all too well, but if they are dragged into them Farke will be desperate to come out on top.
Ipswich will be hard-pushed to keep up with those three clubs for the rest of the season, but the way they have performed so far means they will be in and around them, and it’s up to Leeds to ensure they get themselves ahead.
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