Leeds United could be part of something 'amazing' after eight-year record broken
Leeds United and Sunderland have certainly enjoyed promising starts to the Premier League season.
Former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp believes Leeds United, Sunderland and Burnley all have a chance of avoiding relegation this season.
Leeds have enjoyed a promising start to their top-flight return, with Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth taking them on to eight points from six games. They were on 10 points until the 93rd minute and Eli junior Kroupi’s equaliser but can take plenty of positives from another strong performance against a good outfit.
Daniel Farke’s side came from behind again thanks to goals either side of half-time from Joe Rodon and Sean Longstaff, with Bournemouth largely kept at arm’s length throughout the second-half. A late lapse eventually cost Leeds two points but the result keeps them solidly in mid-table at this early point of the season.
Play-off final winners Sunderland have been the surprise package, with a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Saturday taking them up to fifth on 11 points. Burnley, meanwhile, are currently 18th but have looked competitive despite already facing the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City.
“Leeds are always dangerous,” former Bournemouth and Spurs boss Redknapp told TalkSPORT. “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.”
Early points haul makes good reading for Leeds United, Sunderland & Burnley
After two years of misery for newly-promoted sides, it’s refreshing to see the likes of Leeds and Sunderland pick up early points while Burnley are competing enough to give themselves a chance. The trio are certainly putting up more of a fight than recent counterparts and are statistically the best to come up in eight years.
With six wins and a few more draws between them, Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley have racked up a combined 23 points from the opening six gameweeks. That is a huge improvement on recent years, with the newly-promoted teams from 2023/24 and 2024/25 having just six and eight combined points respectively at this same juncture.
Not since 2017/18 have a newly-promoted trio managed to top 23 combined points from their opening six fixtures, with that season seeing Newcastle United, Brighton and Huddersfield Town pick up 25 points, Interestingly, all three eventually survived.
According to BBC Sport, in only five Premier League seasons have a newly-promoted trio registered more than 23 combined points inside six gameweeks. And in each of those campaigns, a maximum of one promoted team went straight back down, with at least two surviving.
That is good reading for Leeds, who based on the current table are between Burnley and Sunderland when it comes to relegation chances. But their promising start means the likes of Wolves and West Ham could easily be dragged into the battle to survive.