Keith Andrews predicts how Leeds and Aston Villa’s season will end

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Keith Andrews predicts that Leeds United and Aston Villa will meet in the Championship play-off final.

Keith Andrews has told Sky Sports that he is expecting Leeds to miss out on automatic-promotion this season, but added that he is backing the Whites to win the play-off final against Aston Villa.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side were knocked out of the top two at the weekend as they were beaten at Birmingham while Sheffield United managed to come out on top against Preston North End.

With six games to go, Leeds are just one point off the Blades and will return to being Norwich City’s nearest challengers should they also go on and win at Deepdale tonight, with Chris Wilder’s men not playing until Wednesday.

It is going to be a devastating blow for whichever side misses out on automatic-promotion, especially with the likes of Villa going into the final weeks of the season off the back of a stunning run of form.

The Villans’ place in the top six is not secure by any means, but Dean Smith’s side have won their last six games. And if their current form continues over the coming weeks, then they will certainly be many fans’ favourite to go up with the top two.

But while Andrews – who, it seems fair to say, is probably not the most popular pundit amongst the Elland Road faithful – tipped Leeds to miss out on securing automatic-promotion, he still backed the Whites to be playing Premier League football next year.

“Sheffield United had a big swing at the weekend. It’s very difficult to call who’s going to come second in that division. When you look at the run-in I slightly favour Sheffield United, only slightly,” he told Sky Sports when predicting who will finish in the top two alongside Norwich.

“When you look at them across the two games against the other play-off contenders then I would say I fancy Leeds. They will beat Aston Villa in the final,” he went on to add in regards to the play-offs.

It would be a huge blow for Leeds to miss out on finishing in the top two given how long they have spent setting the pace this season. And if they do miss out, they are going to need to bounce back remarkably well if they hope come out on top in the play-offs.