'Everyone knows' - Ethan Ampadu on Leeds United league position, Sheffield United, Burnley disrespect message
Leeds sit three points behind leaders Sheffield United and just one point clear of third-placed Burnley.
Whites captain Ethan Ampadu has delivered a composed view on Leeds United’s position in the Championship table with a Sheffield United and Burnley 'disrespect' message.
Leeds went into last Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off at Preston North End knowing a win would send them two points clear in top spot and with a six-point buffer in the division’s automatic promotion spots, albeit with rivals having a game in hand.
The Whites, though, needed a 93rd-minute own goal equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw as part of a weekend in which every other team in the division’s top five all won, leaving Leeds three points behind leaders Sheffield United.
Despite dominating the majority of this season’s fixtures, Leeds now have just a one point buffer in the Championship’s second automatic promotion place back to third placed Burnley who themselves are only one point ahead of fourth-placed Sunderland.
Ampadu, though, is not giving any thought to ifs, buts and maybes about the league table - insisting that full focus is on today’s visit of Oxford United, despite an admission that “everyone knows” where the Whites want to be.
Speaking to the YEP, Ampadu was pressed on his team’s position in the league table and if there was a feeling that Leeds could and should be higher.
Ampadu reasoned: “It's probably difficult to think about what could be because then you stop focusing on what's in the present moment.
"For now, our present is the game on Saturday so we are focusing on that and then after the season we can focus on what happened.
"Everyone knows where we want to be, everyone knows what position we want to be in in the league. But if we keep focusing our mindset on that we will forget about the game itself."
Pressed on claims from many pundits that the Championship might be a bit easier this year without last year’s top two Leicester City and Ipswich Town - and if that was unfair on teams like Sheffield United and Burnley - Ampadu declared: "100 per cent. We don't ever want to disrespect someone. If that was the case then the league table would be different.
"But it's not right now so we are never going to sit here and disrespect anyone. It's a very competitive league, it always is every year, no matter who is in the division. Every game is hard.
"But for us it's just focusing on ourselves, we don't want to focus on last year, we want to focus on ourselves this year and do what we can to achieve our goals."