Leeds United have won just 28 per cent of their league fixtures during the month of April since the beginning of the 2013/14 season.

The Whites must overcome an historic hoodoo this month if their hopes of automatic promotion back to the Premier League are to be preserved.

Leeds' propensity to falter during the penultimate month of the season has recently been a likely cause for the fanbase's gallows humour, reflected in the team's results over a prolonged period.

United came undone during April last season, taking just seven points from an available 18, allowing Leicester City and Ipswich Town to pull clear and clinch their own promotion back to the top flight, as Leeds won two, drew one and lost three.

During Leeds' only previous Championship promotion-winning campaign of the 21st Century, the club's final nine games were played in June and July after the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, meaning no matches took place in April.

Leeds' record in the month of April since the 2013/14 season is 17 wins, 12 draws and 32 defeats from 61 matches, representing a 28 per cent win ratio. This means United have taken 63 points from a possible 183 during that time, leaving 66 per cent of available points on the table.

Only during Leeds' two most recent Premier League seasons, during both of which the team battled relegation, has the club averaged less than a 28 per cent win rate over the course of an entire campaign. So, why has the penultimate month of the season proven to be their undoing year after year?

There are many theories as to why the club seem to trip themselves up during the 'crunch time period', as manager Daniel Farke calls it, and with recent results against Portsmouth, Queens Park Rangers and Swansea City, that discussion has arisen once again.

One such theory is burnout, that after a gruelling 38 or 46-game season, as players approach the final straight, they are physically spent. Some pundits suggested Leeds' 2020 promotion was aided by the season break caused by the pandemic, allowing them to recuperate for three months before the season's resumption. This claim was vehemently denied by supporters.

This season, Leeds' squad is among the smallest in the division and lineup rotation has been infrequent, particularly since the turn of the year. Output from regular starters, such as Manor Solomon and Brenden Aaronson, has dried up of late, while key players such as Ethan Ampadu have sustained injuries. It has been suggested that United's current wobble, having conceded first in four of their last seven games and failing to win in four of the last five, may be related to this so-called notion of burnout.

Other attempts at an explanation point the finger at mentality, although the club's historic April record predates the current squad, management and ownership structure with hundreds of players passing through the doors at Elland Road over the past 11 seasons. More outlandish and somewhat tongue-in-cheek claims from a minority of supporters is the belief that the club is cursed, or that the EFL seek to keep their 'cash cow' down in order to profit from the club's fervent local and large global fanbase.

Whatever the reason, there is unlikely to be any conclusive proof, at least not publicly available, that will provide an answer for Leeds' April struggles.

Unquestionable is the fact Leeds must better their performances during this upcoming period in order to keep Premier League aspirations alive. In only one of the last 10 seasons - in which fixtures have been played during April - have Leeds accrued more than 50 per cent of the points available to them.

This month, there are 18 on offer, meaning historic projections would place Leeds' tally heading into the final matchday of the season at around the 90-point mark as a best-case scenario. Given Sheffield United have moved into first place and Burnley sit level with Leeds on 81, failing to take more than nine points from their next six matches could ultimately prove costly for automatic promotion.