‘If I’m honest…’ – Neil Warnock makes promotion claim about Leeds and West Brom
Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock has claimed that Leeds United and West Brom deserve to win promotion to the Premier League.
The Whites and the Baggies have occupied the top-two spots in the Championship almost all season.
They both struggled in the opening couple of games when the season restarted last month but Leeds and West Brom have now steadied their ships and seem to be on track to secure automatic promotion.
Warnock believes it would be unfair to have anyone but the current top-two go up, especially after seeing Leeds decimate Stoke on Thursday.
“I do hope that Leeds and West Brom go up if I’m honest,” Warnock said, as quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“They have had the breakdowns when they have looked so confident over the years, they’ve hit a brick wall.
“I think last night was a vital game (win against Stoke), I think they can relax a little bit now and try and get over the line that way.
“Like I say before lockdown I thought they were the best two teams and don’t want it to knock them away.
“I think they deserve to be in the top flight next year and then it will be interesting to see who accompanies them.”
Leeds and West Brom are not only the two best teams in the Championship but they also have the top best managers and two squads that could perform well in the Premier League next season.
Of course, both clubs will need to spend a bit of money to strengthen certain areas but when you look at players like Kalvin Phillips and Matheus Pereira, they could get into most Premier League sides outside of the so-called big-six.
Leeds will need to replace loan star Ben White in the summer and possibly bring in a new striker and a left-back.
They’re the key areas for Victor Orta to look at ahead of next season, in our opinion, but we also think Bielsa might put his faith in the players he has if the club does end up winning promotion.
He’s stood by a lot of players in his two years at Elland Road, even when the going’s got tough. We bet he will do it again next term in the top-flight.
In other Leeds United news, Adrian Durham cannot believe what he saw in the win over Stoke.