Leeds United leapfrogged Sheffield United in the Championship this past weekend.
Leeds United moved back into the automatic promotion places at the first possible opportunity this past weekend.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side lost 1-0 to Sheffield United before the international break to slip to third in the Championship with eight games left, having been in the top two for most of this season.
The Blades, who moved second that day, had spent most of the calendar year being the hunters rather than the hunted and Leeds hitman Patrick Bamford challenged Chris Wilder’s side to deal with the pressure of leading the way for automatic promotion.
He told LUTV after the game: “For once the pressure is off us as a club. We’re no longer in the driving seat. Sheffield [United] haven’t had that pressure yet. They’ve always been the underdog. It’s a new thing for them.
“People aren’t going to be talking about if Leeds are going to do it [win promotion]. The majority of the focus is going to be on the other two teams.”
Fast forward two weeks and it looks like Bamford was spot-on.
Saturday’s dramatic 3-2 win over Millwall saw the Whites leapfrog Sheffield United, who were beaten 3-2 at home to Bristol City.
It was only their second Championship defeat since December and it seems plausible that the pressure of being in the top two did get to them. Of course, they might have lost this game regardless of where they were in the table, but Saturday ended a 10-game unbeaten streak.
They were bang in form before being turned over by the Robins – or, in other words, before they were favourites along with Norwich City to go up automatically. Now promotion is in Leeds’ own hands again and time will tell if Bamford and his team-mates can cope with the pressure of seeing it through.
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