EFL pundit Adrian Clarke has shared his prediction for Leeds United’s Championship play-off final against Southampton.
The two sides will go head-to-head at Wembley on Sunday to compete for the final place in next season’s Premier League, with both having been relegated together just 12 months ago.
OPTA’s supercomputer had Leeds and Southampton as the favourites to reach the final and so it wasn’t a surprise to many to see them comfortably overcome Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion respectively.
Sunday’s meeting is certainly made all the more intriguing by the fact Southampton were the only side to complete a league double over Leeds during the regular season.
However, Leeds actually finished three points clear of the Saints in the table, meaning it is two teams who come into the game extremely well matched.
Adrian Clarke shares prediction for Leeds vs Southampton
The Championship play-off final is dubbed the most expensive game in football and so all eyes will be on Wembley come Sunday afternoon.
As such, several pundits have already started giving their predictions for the match with David Prutton and Ally McCoist among them backing Leeds to win on penalties.
In contrast, Dion Dublin is tipping Southampton to get the job done having grown to be a big fan of the style of play Russell Martin has implemented on the South Coast.
And speaking on the latest episode of the ‘What The EFL Podcast‘, Clarke has also predicted Southampton to win for a similar reason to that of Dublin.
He said: “They will have to be at their best defensively, that’s the one thing I worry about with Southampton. In open play, and I know they have improved recently, across the season they have let in 54 goals. Leeds have let in 29, that’s a massive difference.
“If they don’t defend brilliantly high up the pitch, that Leeds front four could really hurt them. But in a way I kind of favour Saints here, it could easily go to extra-time but part of me thinks Southampton are just a better coached team.
“Leeds are powerful, talented, rapid, all of those things but tactically there is more to Southampton. They can hurt you in different ways.”
Could Illan Meslier be Leeds’ hero if it goes to penalties?
As is always the case with a final, there is the possibility this could well be decided via a penalty shootout, just like 12 months ago between Coventry City and Luton Town.
With that in mind, Illan Meslier will have a huge role to play in dictating which way the result goes, but he will certainly have to improve on his penalty saving record.
Excluding penalty shootouts, Meslier has saved just one of the 19 spot-kicks he has faced for Leeds, which came against West Ham United back in March 2021. Incidentally, Jesse Lingard went onto score the rebound anyway.
On the other hand, Meslier won the one and only penalty shootout he has been involved in for Leeds back in September 2021 at Fulham in the EFL Cup. He saved one in a 6-5 victory.