I helped end Leeds United's top two Championship dream but I back Whites for promotion

In their quest to win automatic promotion to the Premier League, Leeds United built a formidable record at Elland Road. Rarely breached in defence, Daniel Farke's men looked like going the whole season unbeaten at home as they used the Elland Road factor to help propel their promotion ambitions.

That unbeaten run ended in the penultimate home game of the regular season with Blackburn Rovers stunning the Whites in a 1-0 victory, severely denting Leeds' promotion ambitions and putting Ipswich Town and Leicester City in a commanding position which they would not relinquish.

The villain of the piece that day was Blackburn's goal-scoring ace Sammie Szmodics, who found the back of the net in the 82nd minute to settle the game, much to the frustration and despondency at the time of the Elland Road crowd. Almost a month to the day since that loss, Leeds begin the next phase of their promotion push with a play-off semi-final first-leg game at Norwich City tomorrow lunchtime.

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Neither side enters the play-offs with any sort of notable form, Norwich's being marginally better with two wins in their last six games compared to Leeds' one, but it is the Whites who are being backed to go all the way by the man who played such a big role in ending the automatic promotion dream.

Speaking on the latest episode of the ‘ No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast ‘, Szmodics said after playing the four play-off teams twice each this season, he feels Leeds have to be the favourites to win promotion to the Premier League.

He said: “I would have to go, just because I have played against them, with Leeds. Elland Road, tough place to go but not for Blackburn actually! We went there and beat them but the players they’ve got, and the team they’ve got I think they will do it.”