Harry Redknapp makes bold claim over Leeds United, Sunderland and Burnley
All three newly promoted sides have made promising returns to the Premier League.
Leeds United’s return to the Premier League was always likely to be full of challenges - but after taking four points from their last two games, there seems to be a growing confidence over the Whites prospects of remaining in the top flight.
Daniel Farke’s men kicked off their season with a hard-earned home win against Everton as a late penalty from summer signing Lukas Nmecha set of wild celebrations at Elland Road. However, that kickstarted a run of four games without a win in all competitions and that run included a shock Carabao Cup second round exit at the hands of Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.
That run was ended last weekend when Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anton Stach and Noah Okafor all grabbed their first goals for the club in an impressive 3-1 win at struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers. Leeds looked set to make it consecutive wins for the first time this season when they bounced back from conceded a goal to Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo to take a lead with goals either side of half-time from Joe Rodon and Sean Longstaff.
There was frustration and disappointment surrounding Elland Road when Eli Junior Kroupi grabbed a last-gasp equaliser for the Cherries to ensure Farke’s men had to settle for a share of the spoils. As it stands, Leeds are sat in mid-table as they prepare for another home game with Tottenham Hotspur next Saturday afternoon and they could move as high as sixth place in the table if they can claim a win on home soil.
Sunderland are the most impressive performers of the three newly promoted clubs as they are now sat in fifth place in the table after losing just one of their six games since securing promotion via a Championship play-off final win against Sheffield United. By contrast, Burnley are sat in the relegation zone after collecting just one win from their first six games - although Scott Parker’s side have shown some promising signs in defeats against the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.
All three clubs will hope avoid the same fate suffered by Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton after they were relegated into the Championship just 12 months after securing promotion. After making contrasting starts to the campaign, Harry Redknapp believes Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley could remain in the top flight but admitted the relegation battle is ‘going to be tight’.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Monday morning, the former Spurs and Portsmouth manager said: “Leeds are always dangerous. Elland Road is a difficult place to go and get a victory. It’s always intimidating, big crowd, great atmosphere. It’s going to be tight. It will be open, who knows, all three promoted teams could stay up and that would be amazing, we’ve not had that for years.”
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