Sheffield United and Burnley have been fantastic but Leeds United are my Championship promotion favourites
Leeds United maintained breathing space at the top of the Championship after Monday’s draw at Burnley.
Curtis Davies is struggling to separate three of this season’s Championship promotion contenders with the former defender expecting just one to join Leeds United in the automatic places.
Leeds came through another gameweek with breathing space between them and the chasing pack, following Monday night’s hard-fought 0-0 draw at Burnley. A tense game had to wait until minute 88 for a shot on target, with the Championship’s two best defences coming out on top and both happy to take the point.
With Sheffield United losing at home to Hull City and Sunderland dropping points against Plymouth, Leeds will have been happy to leave Turf Moor having lost no ground on their rivals. Daniel Farke’s side are now two points clear of second-placed Sheffield United and three ahead of Burnley in third.
A significantly better goal difference offers further breathing space and long-time favourites Leeds are only becoming more fancied with each week they remain top. It looks set to be a near carbon copy of last season’s four-team race but unlike last time, Davies expects Elland Road to be celebrating come May.
“I do [believe Leeds are favourites to go up],” the former Hull City and Derby county defender told Sky Sports. “I fancied Leeds after last year’s disappointment of losing the play-offs. I didn’t think they would want that to happen again. I thought they would do everything to make sure they kept things in their own hands and finish in that top two.
“Sheffield United have been fantastic obviously, they've had two points deducted as well. Their recruitment has been brilliant. Burnley have been fantastic but it's been a different Burnley to what we expected. They're built on a solid defence, not the free-scoring Burnley that run over teams.
“And Sunderland are the ones who just keep in there, we keep thinking they’ll slowly fall away but they keep answering all the questions. I don't see anyone else jumping into that top four but I do see Leeds being one of those top two.”
Leeds are now 11 unbeaten in the league with their last defeat coming at Millwall in November, a run that somewhat resembles last season’s 15-match streak in which Farke’s side closed the gap on Leicester City and Ipswich Town. The difference this time is they have been top for several weeks, with hope that three-point gap to third can open up a little more.
The Whites return to Elland Road this weekend for a home game against a resurgent Cardiff City. The Bluebirds have started to pull away from relegation trouble with a seven-game league unbeaten run, taking 13 points from a possible 21.