Heading into the New Year, Leeds are still right on track for promotion, but there is something they must address if they are to return to the Premier League.
Leeds United forward Kemar Roofe admits the squad are confident that they can reel in the top two as they look to maintain their fantastic run of form in the New Year, the Yorkshire Evening Post reports.
The Whites have won eight of their last ten Championship fixtures, with their 4-1 hammering of Preston away from home on Boxing Day keeping them in fifth position in the table and on track for a first stab at the play-offs since 2005/06.
However, the stuttering form of hitherto unstoppable league leaders Newcastle United, who dropped down to second following a fourth home defeat in eleven fixtures, means the automatic promotion places are just eight points away.
And Roofe, who scored one and provided two assists at Deepdale in his finest performance in a Leeds shirt, admits the team are not looking to merely settle for a top six finish.
“Of course [we can earn automatic promotion]. Why not? If we keep winning week-in, week-out we’ll see where we get to and claw the teams above us down,” the former Oxford United star told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“It’s calm in [the dressing room]. We’re silently confident but obviously we go game by game, we don’t get carried away and we concentrate on ourselves.
“When you start looking at other teams and start looking up the table I think that’s when you start struggling, but I know as long as we look after ourselves we’ll be alright.”
Leeds have vanquished almost all of the opponents who have dared to cross them in recent months with just a few exceptions.
However, those exceptions could be the difference between fighting for a remarkable top two finish of ending the season a few points adrift.
After all, Leeds’ only defeats in their last ten league fixtures came at the hands of Newcastle and Brighton, the sides currently occupying the automatic promotion positions.
Leeds also failed to pick up a single point against fourth placed Huddersfield and a resurgent Derby, currently standing in seventh but just two points behind.
Therefore, it goes without saying that if Monk’s side are to turn their promotion dream into a reality, they need to perform at their peak in pressure situations and improve their record against their immediate challengers.
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