In an attempt to solidify their standing as the runners-up in the Championship table for automatic promotion, Leeds United will host Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Saturday.
Seven straight league victories have put the visitors two points clear of third-place Southampton, while their hosts, enjoying a winning streak of their own, moved up to 15th position with a midweek draw.
Plymouth Argyle, who have swiftly averted the prospect of relegation in recent weeks, will be looking to build on their successful run under manager Ian Foster going into the weekend.
The Pilgrims have adapted admirably to life in the second division of England after winning League One and moving up to the division last season. With 37 points from their first 31 games, they are currently ranked 15th.
Eight of those points have actually come from their first five games under new manager Foster, who oversaw back-to-back Championship victories over Cardiff City and Swansea City after starting his stint with a 1-1 draw away at Huddersfield Town.
Last Saturday was a difficult journey to Sunderland, where the Home Park team came away empty-handed after a
The Home Park team most recently hosted playoff-chasing Coventry City on Wednesday and earned a creditable point from a 2-2 draw, albeit in agonizing fashion, having twice gone ahead through Morgan Whittaker and Mikel Miller only to be pegged back by an injury-time equalizer from Liam Kitching. A difficult trip to Sunderland followed the previous weekend, and the team returned empty-handed from a 3-1 defeat.
With an eight-point advantage above the relegation zone, Plymouth Argyle is currently in a healthy mid-table position despite that disappointing loss. They will look to capitalize on their recent success with another three-point haul this weekend to further solidify their position.
That won’t be an easy feat, though, as the visitors enter the game as the division’s best team, hoping to return to the Premier League right away this season.
Leeds United, under Daniel Farke’s direction, enter the weekend in second place in the Championship with 66 points from their 32 games played thus far. They have won 20 of those games and only lost six.
After suffering back-to-back losses to Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion over the holiday season, the Yorkshire team did find themselves squarely back in the race for a top-two finish. However, they have since taken the lead with an impressive seven-match winning streak since the start of the year, first defeating Birmingham City,
Since then, Farke’s team has continued to win admirably, defeating Rotherham United 3-0 and Bristol City 1-0 before most recently thrashing Swansea City 4-0 thanks to goals from Joel Piroe, Crysencio Summerville, and Willy Gnonto in the first half.
Leeds United will now look to win eight straight Championship games to solidify their place in the automatic promotion rankings. With that victory, Leeds United overtook Southampton and moved into the top two, even though they only lead the Saints by two points despite having played one more game.
