A glance at the Championship’s form table suggests there is little to separate Yorkshire rivals Leeds United and Sheffield United ahead of Monday’s colossal title tussle at Bramall Lane.
Across their last six league games, both Leeds United and Sheffield United have won five apiece. Daniel Farke’s team picked up 16 points in that time, compared to 15 from Chris Wilder’s outfit.
Across the last ten league games, meanwhile, the Elland Road giants have accumulated 24 points out of a possible 30, Opta claiming that Leeds now have a 95 per cent chance of promotion. Sheffield United, however, picked up 22 themselves out of a possible 30.
So it may come as a surprise to hear that one EFL expert, Not the Top 20 co-host George Elek, is absolutely convinced in Leeds’ chances of extending their lead at the top of the table with a potentially season-defining win in the Steel City on Monday night.
Yet, there are a couple of important factors which contribute to his pre-match confidence.
EFL expert backs Leeds to beat Sheffield United at Bramall Lane
Elek highlights Leeds’ much improved returns on the road across recent months.
In fact, despite coming in for some flack regarding their away form this term, Daniel Farke’s team have not lost on their travels since facing Blackburn Rovers back in November.
The nature of those convincing wins at Coventry City and Watford – by a combined six goals to nil – paints the picture of a team who have emphatically overcome any feelings of travel sickness.
“This is a huge game. If Sheffield United win it, they will usurp Leeds [in top spot],” Elek begins, speaking a few days after Pascal Struijk’s 95th minute header secured a dramatic comeback win over fellow promotion chasers Sunderland.
“There are a few reasons why I think Leeds [will win] here. Firstly, Leeds’ dominance at Elland Road has been obvious all season, and they continued that against Sunderland last time out.
“Their away form, at times, has been a little bit patchy. But that hasn’t been the case as of late. They have won their last two away games 2-0 and 4-0. There was a 0-0 draw with Burnley before that. They were 3-1 up against Hull before conceding twice late but that came off the back of wins at Derby and Stoke.
“There is no question, given that they started the season with just two wins from their first seven away games, that they have massively improved on the road.”
Sheffield United, meanwhile, have lost only twice on home soil all season. Yet, Elek believes, the results are far greater than their performances, while one of those two home defeats came in a crushing loss to relegation-threatened Hull City only a month ago.
Sheffield United have been ‘lucky’ in a few recent wins
“Then, you’ve got Sheffield United,” Elek adds. “They were beaten 3-0 by Hull at the end of January. They beat Derby 1-0 away but it was a really poor game in which they created next to nothing. They were then second best when they beat Portsmouth. Pompey were by far the better side.
“They beat Boro but a Boro team who are capitulating. And then the win over Luton last time out in which the Blades were very lucky not to go one goal behind at half-time.
“I think there is a huge gulf between the quality of the two sides, personally. Any concerns I had over Leeds’ ability to replicate their home form away from home are kind of over now.
“I’m pretty strong on Leeds [winning on Monday], even though the Blades have home advantage.”
Wilder, speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, could not confirm that striker duo Kieffer Moore and Tom Cannon would recover from injury in time to face Leeds.
Gus Hamer – Sheffield United’s talismanic midfielder and a player frequently mentioned in conjunction with Leeds – is also facing a race against time having missed Saturday’s unconvincing victory over bottom-of-the-table Luton Town.
Wilder is confident that Hamer will be available at Bramall Lane, however.
Interestingly, Leeds’ chief executive Angus Kinnear confirmed in September that The Whites had attempted to snatch Hamer from their Yorkshire rivals that previous summer.
