Liam Rosenior claims Leeds United’s bad run of form was a ‘blessing’, seemingly changes mind about Aston Villa

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Leeds United and Aston Villa are two of the biggest clubs outside of the Premier League.

Liam Rosenior has claimed that Leeds United’s bad run of form leading up to the playoffs was a ‘blessing’ as he has seemingly changed his mind about Aston Villa being ‘favourites’.

The Sky Sports pundit admitted that he was backing Villa before a ball was kicked on Saturday, but after seeing Marcelo Bielsa’s side ‘dominate’ Frank Lampard’s men, he has now seemingly changed his mind about who the favourites are.

Leeds weren’t the only winners on that day because Aston Villa recorded a valuable 2-1 home win against Midland rivals West Brom, with the return leg set to be played on Tuesday night.

Speaking to The Debate on Sky Sports Premier League (13/05/2019 at 10:50 pm), Rosenior shared his thoughts on these mouthwatering playoffs.

If it’s a Leeds and Villa final: “The Premier League is in for an absolute treat,” Rosenior told Sky Sports. “These clubs are absolutely massive.

“Before the playoffs started, I would have said Villa were favourites, but I watched Leeds play against Derby and they were absolutely fantastic. It’s really difficult to go all the way until the end of the season and miss out on that top two and go again.

“I think it’s actually been a blessing to Leeds that they did fall away with an extra week to spare because psychologically you can go and re-gather yourself. If they had missed out on the last day then it would have been very difficult to pick up and go again. I know they lost to Ipswich on the last day, but there was a real freshness to their play at Derby. They dominated from start to finish.”

As things stand, Leeds and Villa will meet in a heavyweight showdown at Wembley later on this month, but both teams are fully aware that given the nature of the Championship anything can happen.

The task is simple yet very difficult for both teams. If they avoid defeat in their respective games then they will be planning for trips to Wembley.

But if they fail to turn up for the second leg then their respective opponents will punish them, not forgetting that they don’t have much to lose now.