Willy Gnonto echoes Leeds United teammate's away form point as Championship promotion warning sent
Leeds United dropped points on the road once again at Preston North End.
Willy Gnonto is not overly worried about Leeds United’s away form but insists it is important to keep racking up points on the road.
Leeds returned home on Saturday with mixed feelings, having salvaged a 1-1 draw at Preston North End in the dying minutes. Daniel Farke’s side looked set for defeat via Brad Potts’ first-half finish until Dan James’ added-time cross was deflected into his own net by Jack Whatmough.
A point kept Leeds in the automatic promotion places but they have now won just one of their last seven Championship away-days, a stark contrast to eight wins on the bounce at home. Speaking to LUTV after Saturday’s draw, Mateo Joseph urged his team to ‘keep adding points’ on the road and Gnonto has echoed his teammate’s sentiment.
“I wouldn’t say there is a problem because I don't think there is a problem,” Gnonto told the Essential EFL podcast of Leeds’ away form. “But at the same time we lost some games on the road. If we want to reach our goal, we really have to try gain as many points as we can away, because we know when teams come to Elland Road, it's difficult to beat us. We shouldn't worry too much about that… I can’t tell you what the problem is.”
A point at Deepdale would have looked much better, were it not for those around Leeds all picking up three. Every other team in the top seven won over the weekend, with Burnley and Sunderland both coming from behind in the way Farke’s side could not.
Leeds came out the wrong end of a four-team battle last season, missing out on automatic promotion to Leicester City and Ipswich Town before losing to Southampton in the play-off final. But Gnonto hopes lessons have been learned from the previous campaign and focus is on getting the job done at the second time of asking.
“I’d rather we were just having a battle with ourselves maybe!” the winger joked when asked if he’d prefer less competition for a top-two spot. “We know it's not possible, we know the Championship is always really competitive. We always knew we were going to face good teams and obviously we know we’re a good team as well.
“We were really close last year and we're looking for a different ending this season. We know we still have a long way to go so we don't really think about [promotion] but at the same time, everyone is focused, everyone is trying to help the team reach the goal we'll have. My goal is to get as many goals and assists as I can and help the team with everything.”