Ethan Ampadu issues Leeds United last season warning with Sheffield United and Burnley verdict
Ethan Ampadu has assessed the state of play with 17 games left.
Whites captain Ethan Ampadu has issued a Leeds United last season warning with his Sheffield United and Burnley verdict following Monday night’s Turf Moor point.
Leeds and Burnley locked horns on Monday evening for a fixture that had serious potential to dramatically change the landscape at the top of the Championship.
Daniel Farke’s leaders approached the contest one point clear of second-placed Sheffield United at the top of the division and three points ahead of third-placed Burnley who had the chance to draw level with Leeds on 60 points
Leeds, meanwhile, could have booted themselves six points ahead of the Clarets with an away victory yet the cushion to Scott Parker’s side stayed the same after a goalless draw.
Farke’s Whites put themselves one point further ahead of Sheffield United with the 0-0 stalemate, after which Ampadu was keen to stress the value of bagging as many points as possible long before the crunch run-in.
Speaking post match to LUTV, Ampadu was pressed on the table’s state of play in now sitting two points ahead of the Blades and still three points ahead of Burnley. Put to him that matters would soon be getting a little bit more important as the run-in got near, Ampadu declared: "They're important now.
“We saw that last year, we went on a good run and managed to come back. But earlier on results, and maybe results around the Christmas period put us a little bit too far away.
“So as much as there is the perception about the run-in, everything is important now."
The Whites skipper also highlighted set pieces as an area in which Leeds could have offered more offensively in Monday night’s Turf Moor draw as he assessed the displays at both ends of the pitch. Burnley failed to serve up a shot on target during the whole match, albeit Leeds only managed one themselves.
Pressed on controlling the Clarets to little attacking efforts, Ampadu said: “Of course. That was our game plan and we wanted to do that.
"That sets the tone from no matter what game we play. We want to keep a clean sheet and then build on that with our attacking play.
"We just missed that little bit final edge from all of us. Maybe we could have a little bit more from set pieces but maybe it's a good point at the end but now there's still a long way to go."