|
It couldn't be more different than two years ago. Then, with two games to go, we were facing a trip to a Southampton side on the brink of relegation and we had a comfortable four point cushion over the teams trying to take our play off place.
But, it really is worth looking at the table with two games to go. Cardiff were sat in fifth place with two points more than us and Preston were down in eighth with a goal difference six worse than Cardiff's. Now we know that Preston hammered Cardiff 6-0 before winning their last game as Cardiff lost their last game and it was Preston who made the play offs.
So, Burnley in eight place now sitting just two points behind Nottingham Forest means we are still in with a decent chance of making that top six. It will surely mean us winning our last two games starting with this tough one at Leeds.
A draw would make it tough, a defeat would almost certainly end our hopes but a win would give us a real chance and would, at the same time, end Leeds' hopes for another season.
Because of the early kick off we can't know our fate at the final whistle but there is no doubt we'll have a much clearer picture by 5:00 p.m. today.
Leeds only returned to the Championship this season after three years in League One. After looking certain promotion candidates for much of last season they slipped and in the end won automatic promotion on the last day, pipping Millwall who went on to win the play offs.
They came up with champions Norwich and such has been the success of these three clubs that Leeds, until recently looking as though they would be definite play off contenders, the lowest of the three with all of them in the top nine.
That means any one of them could win promotion this season to become the first club to win successive promotions to the Premier League since Manchester City in 2000 under the management of Joe Royle.
There's no doubt that Leeds' strength this season has been their ability to score goals. They've netter no less than 78 in their 44 league games which is bettered only by second place Norwich. The reverse of that is only the bottom four clubs have conceded more than the 69 the opposition have managed against Leeds.
They have no less than four players who have reached double figures in the league this season. Luciano Becchio is in front with 19, two ahead of Max Gradel's 17 goals. Davide Somma has scored 11 and Jonny Howson 10.
They are going into this game on the back of a difficult April, although it started brilliantly with a 4-1 home win against Nottingham Forest. Since then they've drawn both home games, against Watford and Reading, and lost all three on the road at Millwall, Derby and, last Monday, Crystal Palace.
Even so, we can expect nothing but the toughest of games from them.
Luciano Becchio has missed the last two games with a hamstring problem and is rated very doubtful again whilst Lloyd Sam isn't expected to play because of a knee injury.
One player definitely not available, however, is Barry Bannan who has returned to Aston Villa after playing seven games for Leeds during a loan.
Billy Paynter has deputised for Becchio and is expected to again in what could be a very similar team to the one that started at Palace last Monday.
That team was: Kasper Schmeichel, Paul Connolly, Andy O'Brien, Richard Naylor, Eric Lichaj, Bradley Johnson, Jake Livermore, Robert Snodgrass, Jonny Howson, Max Gradel, Billy Paynter. Subs: Shane Higgs, Leigh Bromby, Barry Bannan, Ross McCormack, Sanchez Watt, Neil Kilkenny, Davide Somma.
There will be little change to the Burnley squad from the one that drew with Portsmouth on Easter Monday. Dean Marney is still out and isn't likely to feature in either of the two remaining league games because of a troublesome medial ligament.
Martin Paterson played an hour in Wednesday's reserve game but he's not ready to return but could be included next week for the Cardiff game. Fellow striker Charlie Austin, fresh from smashing raw eggs on his head, isn't far away either but, like Marney, won't feature in either this game or next week's against Cardiff.
Much will depend on whether Eddie Howe wants to make any changes to the team that has started each of the last two games. If he opts to go with the same team we will line up: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Michael Duff, Andre Bikey, Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Chris McCann, Wade Elliott, Chris Eagles, Jay Rodriguez, Chris Iwelumo. Subs from: Lee Grant, David Edgar, Clarke Carlisle, Brian Easton, Graham Alexander, Marvin Bartley, Ross Wallace, Steven Thompson, Nathan Delfouneso.
|
Those wins had ended any lingering fears of us being sucked into the relegation battle but it was a battle Leeds were losing under manager Kevin Blackwell and they were heading for League One.
Unfortunately we couldn't continue the recent form at Leeds and turned in a performance that I described at the time as abject and as bad as any game all season, and that included such as the home games against Stoke and Luton and the away fixture at QPR.
We had just two on target efforts all afternoon. We fell behind midway through the half to a Matt Heath header as he got above Michael Duff from a corner that Brian Jensen should have cut out and there was never any indication after that we might even threaten to get back into the game.
All credit to Jensen, he ensured the score remained at one. He saved brilliantly from another Heath header and kept out another couple of efforts whilst Frazer Richardson hammered a long distance shot against our bar.
The first half performance, in particular, was appalling but it did improve slightly after the break. We dominated the second half in terms of possession but, in the end, the score would have been worse but for the performances of the two central defenders, man of the match Wayne Thomas and new captain Steven Caldwell.
The game was played on a hot, sunny day, and it looked as though most of our players had already gone on their summer holiday. It was an Elland Road shocker.
The teams were;
Leeds: Casper Ankergren, Frazer Richardson, Lubomir Michalik, Matt Heath, Michael Gray, Robbie Blake (Rui Marques 76), Radostin Kishishev, Alan Thompson, Eddie Lewis, David Healy (Miguel Armando Sa 90), Richard Cresswell. Subs not used: Graham Stack, Jemal Johnson, Ian Moore.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Ade Akinbiyi 69), Eric Djemba-Djemba, James O'Connor (John Spicer 74), Steve Jones, Andy Gray, Paul McVeigh. Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Graham Coughlan, Chris McCann.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
2004/05 | C | a | 2-1 | 27,490 | Roche Duffy |
h | 0-1 | 17,789 | |||
2005/06 | C | h | 1-2 | 16,174 | G O'Connor(pen) |
a | 0-2 | 21,318 | |||
2006/07 | C | h | 2-1 | 15,061 | Noel-Williams Gray |
h | 0-1 | 23,528 | |||
2010/11 | C | h | 2-3 | 20,453 | Easton Rodriguez |