David Prutton has previewed the upcoming Championship play-off final between Leeds United and Southampton.
The two sides are set to go head-to-head at Wembley on Sunday, with the winner taking the final place in next season’s Premier League come August.
Leeds overcame Norwich City 4-0 in the second leg last Thursday to seal their passage into this weekend’s clash, while Southampton defeated West Bromwich Albion 3-1 24 hours later.
A number of pundits have already been giving their predictions ahead of the match, with Ally McCoist among those backing Leeds to get the job done.
Neil Warnock refused to answer either way on Sky Sports last Friday as he sat on the fence in a bid to avoid upsetting either set of supporters.
Prutton shares why Southampton could have potential advantage over Leeds
It is no surprise to see these two teams in the final with OPTA’s supercomputer having had both as the favourites to make it through their respective semi-finals.
Though Leeds did finish three points clear of the Saints in the regular season, Russell Martin’s side were actually the only team to complete a league double over the Whites.
During his playing days, Prutton spent time at both clubs and was actually part of the Leeds side who last played at Wembley in 2008, when they were beaten 1-0 by Doncaster Rovers.
And the now EFL presenter gave his thoughts on Sunday’s final on Sky Sports earlier today, and believes Southampton could have a ‘psychological advantage’ over Leeds having beaten them at Elland Road as recently as this month, on the final day.
He said: “I think there are all the cliches about form out of the window and it being a one off game, I do think there’s an element of that.
“But the fact that game was only just a few days ago with Southampton going up to Elland Road and taking all three points, means that possibly there is a psychological advantage. They’ve got some very good players Southampton, not least Adam Armstrong.”
Why Leeds should ignore regular season Southampton defeats
Though beating Leeds twice will certainly give Southampton some confidence going into the game, ultimately, it should not mean much.
Leeds were still very much finding their feet in the season when they were beaten 3-1 at St. Mary’s back in September. Sunday’s starting back four is unlikely to have any of the starters from that day.
Jamie Shackleton and Sam Byram were the full-backs, with Pascal Struijk at right centre-back and Liam Cooper partnering him. Junior Firpo, Archie Gray, Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu look likely to be the starting defence at Wembley.
The final day meeting at Elland Road, meanwhile, very quickly turned into a dead rubber affair due to results elsewhere, and so it is hard to reach much into that performance.
To further strengthen that argument, you only need to look at the results of the two play-off finals which have already taken place, as Oxford United and Crawley Town came out on top against Bolton Wanderers and Crewe Alexandra respectively.
Neither Oxford or Crawley managed to beat their final opponents during the regular season, showing how little it really matters.