With the regular phase of the EFL Championship coming to its conclusion, it allows the two teams who have earned automatic promotion to the Premier League, the opportunity to then celebrate an incredible achievement.
For both Norwich and Sheffield United, there will undoubtedly be wild celebrations and although reaching the promised land of the English top flight is the culmination of nine months hard graft, another difficult task soon awaits.
A task that will see Daniel Farke and Chris Wilder cutting short their holidays in order to plan for the arduous season of Premier League action that awaits and one that will see them pit their wits against some of the world’s best football managers.
The likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp will welcome two debutants to England’s top tier next season and it will be interesting to see, just how the relative new kids on the block perform under such a bright spotlight.
Of course, the arrival of both the Canaries and the Blades will make up just two-thirds of the new arrivals in the Premier League next season and with the play-offs just around the corner, we will soon find out who will also leave the Championship behind.
One of the four teams that have earned themselves a ticket to this lottery is that of Leeds United and under Marcelo Bielsa, they would have been many people’s tip to go on and earn an automatic promotion place this season.
While in the early part of the campaign, it did seem as if the Yorkshire outfit were going to live up to those expectations. That was until,
a certain ‘Spy-Gate’ furore erupted and from that point onwards, Leeds had lost the edge over their nearest rivals.
Whether Marcelo Bielsa deploying someone to hide in the bushes of his opposition's training ground is illegal or not, is something that will be argued long into the night and although the Argentine did not face the full arm of the football authorities, it was certainly an unethical practice.
Without the ability to know the inside and outside of their opponents, Leeds have had to win by efforts purely on the pitch and unfortunately for them, it was a case of falling at the final hurdle in a such a lengthy Championship promotion race.
However, they will also be in a good position to dust themselves off and go again and for most people, they are the team that will earn promotion at the second time of asking. A feeling that is reinforced
when you look at the latest Championship betting.
Leeds currently find themselves at 15/8 with bet365 to earn promotion, while Aston Villa are priced at the marginal difference of 2/1 and with the form that
Dean Smith’s men are in at present, they cannot be discounted either.
That said, Leeds do have the weight of history behind of them and with nine of the last twenty-three Championship play-off winners finishing third in the regular season, it certainly provides a good omen for Marcelo Bielsa and his hopes of testing himself in the Premier League come August.