Leeds United will be looking to maintain their top-two status when they take on Birmingham City at the weekend.
Sky Sports pundit Danny Higginbotham has claimed that Pablo Hernadez’s work rate for Leeds United sometimes goes ‘unnoticed’ as he lauded his abilities on the ball.
The experienced campaigner has been a key member of this promotion-chasing squad and he will be even more important in these final few months of the season.
Last Saturday, Hernandez hit a brace against relegation-threatened Millwall as Leeds moved back into second place in the Championship in what was a crucial day in the race for promotion.
Speaking to Match Centre on Sky Sports News (04/04/2019 at 11:50 am), former Stoke defender Higginbotham was in awe of what Hernandez brings to the table for his team.
“He’s a magician,” Higginbotham told Sky Sports News. “There’s no question about it. What I like about him is that we know what he is capable of. We know the assists that he is capable of. We know that when he picks up the ball he can pick up a pass.
“But, it’s his work rate as well. Sometimes that goes unnoticed. He’s got a really good work rate, I think that’s something Bielsa’s looked at and said ‘everybody has to be right on top of the game’.
“He grabbed the game [against] Millwall by the scruff of the neck, arguably his best performance of the season. It’s just the position that he takes up. He’s so clever in terms of his movement. We know that the full-backs get forward and he’s a player that can drift around behind that front line.”
At the weekend, the Whites will come against their former manager Garry Monk, whose Birmingham City team are now five points above the drop zone after being deducted nine points by the EFL.
It was Monk who brought Hernandez to Elland Road after working with the Spaniard during their time at Swansea City, who were a Premier League club at that time.
There are seven games of the season remaining and if Marco Bielsa’s side win all those matches then they will be a Premier League club next season.
However, it is one thing producing that type of form when there is no pressure and there is another producing when there is pressure. Regardless of that, there is no doubt that Leeds have the capabilities of picking up maximum points from now until the end of the season.
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