Leeds United have this advantage over Southampton and Ipswich in the race for second

Leeds United’s Daniel Farke has experience of winning promotion to the Premier League, unlike Kieran McKenna and Russell Martin

•  Leeds United sit in second place after recent wins, with Daniel Farke’s experience a key advantage in the promotion race.
•  Ipswich and Southampton falter as younger managers find the pressure of promotion race challenging.
•  Farke’s past success and experience offer Leeds an advantage over rivals in the intense Championship promotion battle.
• Despite not playing in midweek, Leeds United’s automatic promotion hopes were boosted thanks to results elsewhere.
• Southampton fell to fourth after a 2-1 home defeat to Hull City, which meant they’ve now lost two of their last three fixtures after previously going 23 games unbeaten in the league.

  Meanwhile, Ipswich very nearly dropped points against the league’s basement boys, Rotherham United, but scored a 95th minute winner to ensure it wasn’t quite the perfect night for Daniel Farke’s side.

• Despite this, Leeds seem to be peaking at the right time and are now in second place, with all the top six having played 33 games each. The Whites have won their last eight league games and are thriving under Farke, with the German’s previous Championship experience proving invaluable to their automatic promotion bid.
  

  Daniel Farke’s previous Championship promotions give Leeds the edge over rivals

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• Whilst promotion rivals Ipswich and Southampton are led by younger managers in Kieran McKenna and Russell Martin, Leeds have Farke at the helm, who has won promotion from this division on two occasions before, giving the Whites an advantage when the pressure is on.

  Farke joined Norwich in 2017 and after a season of re-building in 2017/18, the German led the Canaries to the 2018/19 Championship title, finishing five points ahead of second-place Sheffield United.

  His time in the Premier League proved unsuccessful, as Norwich were immediately relegated back to the Championship, but Farke stayed put at Carrow Road and led the Canaries to the Championship title yet again in 2021.

  In three seasons of managing at Championship level, Farke has won the league twice and arguably with a Norwich side with far less quality than his current Leeds side.

  No doubt that this would have been one of the reasons why Farke was appointed by the Leeds hierarchy, and he’s showing this experience, as Ipswich and Southampton have faltered in recent weeks whilst his side have thrived.

  Kieran McKenna and Russell Martin have never been in this position before

  

  Whilst McKenna and Martin have proved themselves to be fantastic managers, they’ve never been in this position before and this could prove to be decisive at the end of the season.

  McKenna won promotion from League One last season, so he does have some experience of battling it out for promotion, but this is his first season managing at this level and battling for Premier League promotion is a different kettle of fish from League One.

  Meanwhile, Martin has never been in a promotion race in any division, with all of his previous league finishes with MK Dons and Swansea coming in mid-table.

  Perhaps he’s beginning to feel the pressure, with the club’s 23-game unbeaten run coming to an end away to Bristol City, before a further home loss to Hull City a week later.

  A month ago, Leeds looked like they would have to settle for the play-offs, but all of a sudden, they are now in the driving seat for automatic promotion.

  Having a manager with two Championship promotions on his CV gives Leeds a huge advantage, as Farke has seen it all before, and knows how to deal with the inevitable ups and downs a promotion race brings.

  Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Leeds have gone up a gear in recent weeks whilst their promotion rivals have stuttered. Farke will be confident that his side will be the ones that claim the much-coveted automatic promotion place.