Newcastle United currently top the Championship table, while Leeds United are in ninth place.
Leeds United goalkeeper Marco Silvestri has told Gianluca Di Marzio that Newcastle United are a Premier League team playing in the Championship.
Newcastle currently sit at the top of the Championship standings, after making an impressive start to life in the second tier.
The Magpies have won 11 of their first 15 matches in the Championship, to secure their place ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion at the top of the table.
Newcastle are also in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup, alongside Silvestri’s Leeds side.
And Silvestri feels that it will be a much tougher task for Leeds to win the cup competition than it will for Newcastle.
“In the league we are only three points from the playoffs, so the team is doing well,” the Italian stopper said.
“I think the goal is just to point to the playoffs. We try. As for the cup, however, that has now become very complicated because there are only two teams from the Championship, us and Newcastle – although Benitez’s team is first, and is already a Premier team in my opinion. It will be difficult for us to go through but you never know in football.”
Silvestri was Leeds’ hero as they progressed to the quarter finals of the EFL Cup, as he helped Garry Monk’s side beat Norwich City on penalties.
Leeds have drawn Liverpool at Anfield in the next round of the cup, meaning they face a tough test to get through.
Newcastle, meanwhile, will face an out of form Hull City side at the KC Stadium in the next round.
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