Neil Warnock's Championship warning to Leeds United amid 12-game run-in theory
Leeds United's fixture schedule eases up once tonight's Bramall Lane trip is over but there are no freebies in the Championship.
Neil Warnock has knocked back suggestions Leeds United have a straightforward 12-game fixture run once this evening’s mammoth Sheffield United task is boxed off.
Leeds head to Bramall Lane knowing a point or three will keep them top for another week while ensuring they come through a difficult run of fixtures with their promotion credentials intact. Daniel Farke’s men faced two play-off hopefuls in Coventry City and Watford before Sunderland’s highly anticipated visit to Elland Road last week.
After taking maximum points from those three games, Leeds head down the M1 with the wind in their sails and following tonight’s trip to Bramall Lane and Saturday’s meeting with West Brom, 8th-placed Bristol City are their highest-ranking opponents left. Promotion could even be wrapped up by that penultimate weekend, with only one other top-half team to prepare for.
But Leeds know all too well the Championship can throw up a surprise or two, with last season’s 4-0 collapse at QPR still fresh in the memory. And Warnock doesn’t expect his former side to cruise through the final dozen games, regardless of where their opponents lie.
“In the Championship when you think something is nailed on, honestly the bottom club can beat Leeds on their day, there’s no such thing as a giveaway,” Warnock told talkSPORT. “I think that’ll be a more interesting run-in than the Premier League because I think that’s all done and dusted. The Championship is still wide open and to get a scalp like Leeds for these lower clubs, it’s twice as hard but I do like Daniel [Farke], I was gutted when he got booked because I know it’s the laws of the game but what a load of rubbish.”
No one inside the Leeds camp will be looking that far ahead, however, with focus solely on this evening’s massive Yorkshire derby. Farke’s side ran out 2-0 winners at Elland Road back in October and in doing the double over Sheffield United, can send out a serious message.
But equally, Chris Wilder’s Blades will be desperate to right the wrongs of that underwhelming Elland Road performance, with three points enough to send them top. His opposite number Farke will be forced to watch from the stands after picking up his third yellow card of the season last week, and Warnock believes that could prove the difference, with little else to separate the two sides.
“It promises to be a good game tonight,” the former Leeds and Sheffield United boss added of this evening’s top-of-the-table clash. “I think with Daniel up in the stands, it quite favours Sheffield United tonight with the home crowd because it's an amazing atmosphere. In that part of the country, it's unbelievable. It'll be full probably an hour before the game tonight.”