Sheffield Wednesday’s Tom Lees shares what’s caught his eye the most about Leeds United’s start to the season

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The Sheffield Wednesday captain started his career with Friday’s opponents Leeds United.

Tom Lees has claimed everyone in the Championship will be pretty impressed by Leeds United’s start to the new campaign. Leeds, the club at which the Sheffield Wednesday captain began his career, top the table on goal difference going into Friday night’s game against Lees’ current employers.

It follows a rare summer of minimal upheaval at Elland Road, with Marcelo Bielsa’s appointment as manager the only major difference from the previous campaign.

And that, as far as Lees is concerned, is the most striking thing about his former club’s start.

“I think everybody in the Championship will be pretty impressed with how they’ve started,” the 27-year-old told BBC Sport at the Sheffield Wednesday press conference on Thursday. “And the thing that’s probably caught everyone’s eye is that they’ve got a lot of the same players, but they seem to be playing in a totally different way and a lot of those players are outperforming what they’ve done in the past.

“They’ve set the pace at the moment but it’s a good challenge for us. It’s a local rival so there’s all that to go into it as well.”

Asked, therefore, if Leeds’ change in fortune rests squarely on Bielsa’s shoulders, the centre-back replied: “Well, it must do.

“Like I said before, it’s the same players really, so it must be something to do with him. Everyone’s made a fuss of him coming to the club, and it seems to be quite a big thing.

“But obviously they’ve lost their last game so it will be interesting to see how they react to that because they’ve not really had to face much adversity so far.”

Leeds travelled to Sheffield Wednesday in a similarly healthy position almost a year ago to the day, and were on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat.

The Whites’ continued to lose momentum over the course of the next few months, and eventually finished 13th in the standings – two places and three points above the Owls.