Who are Leeds’ biggest title challengers?

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Daniel Wales and Lee Sobot discuss who will provide the biggest competition to Leeds United in the Championship this season.

Transcript

00:00They probably could be further ahead than what they are, Leeds, points-wise.

00:04We look as far back as the opening day against Portsmouth and that was one of those key moments

00:10where Leeds were the better side.

00:12Yes, they scored three goals, probably could have had even more to be honest, but of course

00:16they didn't kill the team off, they were playing and it came back to bite them.

00:20But if we look at the league table, as you say, Sunderland of course still sat top and

00:24then I believe it's Sheffield United sat in second place.

00:27Of course they won the Steel City Derby yesterday.

00:31So Sunderland, they dropped points on Saturday, they blew a two-goal lead against Coventry

00:36but for the most part they've been exemplary this season, Sheffield United of course been

00:41good too.

00:42Then you've got Leeds just in behind them but it is tight, I mean the Championship is

00:45always tight, we know this from experience.

00:49How do you view Leeds, maybe a quarter of the way into the season sort of thing, should

00:56they be viewed as the odds-on-favourite the way they currently are or should they be?

01:00It's a hard one to judge, isn't it?

01:03Yes, it is, sure.

01:04I can see why they're odds-on-favourites but whether they should be odds-on-favourites

01:07is another thing altogether.

01:08Realistically, if you're looking at the table, certainly so far, then they shouldn't be odds-on-favourites

01:13should they because they're not top, they're not even second or third and let's not forget

01:16here that Sheffield United also had two points deducted.

01:18Obviously, they might be on 31 points and two ahead of Leeds but obviously technically

01:22speaking there should be two points clear at the top of the table and four ahead of

01:25Leeds and I'd love to believe Chris Wilder shows them the table as it is in terms of

01:29the points and stuff to say this is how well we're doing and they're a good side who can

01:33get things done.

01:34There's loads of ways of looking at this.

01:35One way you can look at it with Leeds is just to say there are only two points off top and

01:39at this stage of the season, if you're two points off top, obviously you want to be top

01:42but that's pretty good really, all things considered.

01:44The other way, on the flip side of that, you can look at it is to say they're not even

01:47in the automatics and yes, it is very, very close, obviously just two points behind both

01:50those two teams at the top of the table but it leaves some work to do.

01:54Obviously, nobody wants to play us again after last season, that goes without saying.

02:00I mean, it's been a decent start to the season, it hasn't been mind-blowing by any means and

02:04there's definitely room for improvement and the bottom line is with Leeds, you can only

02:08have to look at the table, it's drawn too many games really, that's what it comes down

02:11to.

02:12I think the top five have all lost two and there's been too many games with Leeds where

02:15basically they've ended up taking a point away where they should have taken three and

02:18you've nailed it with the first game of the season against Portsmouth, that's obviously

02:21one of them for definite.

02:22The Sunderland away one...

02:23I was just about to say that one, yes, the Steadywind away one...

02:26Yeah, I don't think I'm over that one even now, the mind still boggles about that and

02:30obviously the table would look very, very different with minus one point for Sunderland

02:34and plus two for Leeds, had that been the three points they should have got then.

02:38Obviously you've got the Bristol City stalemate draw as well, which wasn't a great game but

02:42I mean, Bristol City are a good side at home obviously but it's another game where you're

02:45leaving and you're thinking, well, the point's pretty good but really you want to be going

02:49there and getting three and just lots of like, you know, sort of like near misses really.

02:53Obviously the defeats as well, I mean, the Millwall defeat was very, very disappointing

02:56but I mean, you could sort of see that coming.

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