As Leeds United and Middlesborough are set to clash at Elland Road, with both sides looking primed to secure a play-off push come the end of the season. We’re looking ahead to the tie for both outfits and what a result for either would mean in the Championship table.
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00:00Dan, looking at Leeds United who face Middlesbrough, now obviously we can cover two sort of regions
00:08with this and look at both sort of sides going into this. Let's start with Leeds United obviously
00:13flying in the championships and really positive runs of form. They obviously let slip to Blackburn
00:20and another playoff rival, but they want to be that side that make the entire jump and
00:25don't have to go through the playoffs again and lose at Wembley, which was obviously devastating
00:29for them as a club and their fan base as well. They want to return to the Premier League
00:33and get wins over the line like against Middlesbrough, who are obviously fifth and second v fifth,
00:39a massive occasion for both. Let's start with Leeds, how do you look at them going into
00:44this game?
00:45Well, it's an interesting one. Certainly Leeds so far this season have relied more so on
00:49their home form and the good news for them is that this game is at home because it is
00:53a really, really challenging game. I mean, we'll come on to Middlesbrough in a moment,
00:57but Leeds away from home, I've only picked up about half amount of points that they've
01:01picked up away from home, to be honest. Sorry. Yeah, they've picked up like at home, they've
01:07picked up sort of double or they've picked up away and they're going to need that home
01:11form in a game like this. Obviously they're coming off the back of a good win against
01:15Derby the weekend, Joe Rodon, Max Verba both scoring and that's really positive for them
01:20as well because they just need that confidence going into a game against the Middlesbrough
01:24side who are scoring for fun a bit at the moment and picking up some really good results.
01:28Leeds this season, because of, as you say, their aspirations are as such that they want
01:34to be in the automatic promotion spots no matter what. They don't want to go to the
01:36playoffs again. They tend not to do well in playoffs, to be honest. They have a really
01:39bad record whenever they get into them. So going forward this season, they want to be
01:46in the automatic promotion spots and they've got competition for that. You've got the likes
01:49of Sheffield United, you've got Burnley, you've got Sunderland, you've got Middlesbrough.
01:53All those teams are very much up there and Daniel Farker knows that and he probably knows
01:58that the away form has to improve, but that's for another day right now. What is important
02:03right now is beating a strong Middlesbrough side at Elland Road. But the one caveat is,
02:08is that when the two sides face each other in the League Cup back in the start of the
02:12season, August time at Elland Road, Middlesbrough won 3-0 and dumped Leeds out of the League
02:18Cup. So it won't be easy.
02:20And what about Middlesbrough going into this game? Obviously, a massive chance for them
02:25to push higher on up the table as well. They're going to want to be in those playoff places
02:30come the end of the season as well.
02:32Certainly, yes. I mean, Michael Carrick, he is starting to build something there. They
02:36did have their own consistency a lot last season and for part of this season as well,
02:40but they've really started to hit the heights now, to be honest. You've got the likes of
02:43Tommy Conway and Latty Lath scoring for fun, to be honest. And in behind them, you've got
02:48Hayden Hackney and Finn Azaz and Ben Doak all playing so well. So it's a big game for
02:54them as much as it is for Leeds and one that they'll think they can get something from.