All eyes turn to Sunday afternoon as Leeds United take on Southampton in the Championship play-off final at Wembley and Craig Burley explains why he thinks Leeds will be victorious.
Both have booked their place at Wembley next Sunday, with impressive second-leg wins over Norwich City and West Brom. Leeds ended a dodgy run of form by blowing Norwich away on Thursday night.
An enormous 4-0 win that saw Leeds fans produce an atmosphere that is quite like no other in English football, with goals coming from Ilia Gruev, Joel Piroe, Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville.
Southampton also drew their first leg away at West Brom 0-0, but on Friday night they matched Leeds with an excellent 3-1 win to beat Carlos Corberan’s side as West Brom and Alex Mowatt fell to The Saints.
Speaking to ESPN FC when asked which side wins the Championship play-off final, Craig Burley explains why he thinks Leeds will get the job done some Sunday at Wembley and it is down to one man.
Here is what the former Chelsea, Celtic and Scotland man said about Daniel Farke’s side:
Craig Burley explains why Leeds will beat Southampton
It is not as if the form is in favour of Farke’s men. Leeds have lost both times to Southampton this season but there are issues with both, including the out-of-colour Leeds side that lost 3-1 on the south coast.
Having won in the previous game, Farke fielded the same side to face Southampton which meant the likes of Archie Gray and Joe Rodon were overlooked and it saw Russell Martin’s side cruise to a victory.
The second defeat was a Leeds side that had lost hope of automatic promotion and were waiting for the play-offs. Burley thinks The Whites will beat Southampton because Farke is more experience than Martin.
“I am going to just go with Leeds. Energy and the drive, a bit more of an experienced manager and Daniel Farke, who has got a few more miles on the clock than Russell Martin, who has done a very good job.”
Patrick Bamford shares if he will be fit for the play-off final
The one-time England man sat out for the fourth match in a row on Thursday night, after picking up a knock to his knee in the 4-3 win over Middlesbrough in which the striker scored against his old club.
Piroe scored on Thursday night and arguably enjoyed his best performance for The Whites since joining the club. Even if Bamford is fit in time, the chances are he will be on the bench and here’s what he said.
“The simple answer is no [on whether he knows where his injury is at]. It is touch and go, these 10 days, realistically if I want to be involved in the final, I will have to train with the team at some point next week.”
