David Prutton's stunning Leeds United play-off final prediction with 'done' Southampton view

Today's Championship play-off final can change the next five to ten years of what Leeds United is and what their existence is, writes DAVID PRUTTON.

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There are obviously the finances that come into it but also the careers of players. It's not necessarily make or break for those players but the right result can certainly make a career and set players off on a different trajectory.

It can also solidify or lay the foundations of what Leeds want from the next decade or what Southampton want from the next decade. We love the Championship and the EFL and I am as big an advocate for that as anyone. But I understand what the lure and the riches of the Premier League provide.

It's a tough one predicting what Whites boss Daniel Farke will do with his team. There's an obvious thought process regarding getting caught out and strung out in a game which is literally it. There's no setting up for the second leg, this is exactly it.

In the first leg at Norwich, there was no creation from Leeds, there was no real spark about the side, whether that was formation or potentially a bit of lethargy within the team. But that was all quite swiftly put to bed in the second leg.

There was a debate about whether you would go with Patrick Bamford or Joel Piroe upfront but the fact that Bamford has now been ruled out, possibly means it's a more streamlined way of thinking.

Southampton will be a different foe to Norwich but if Leeds attack then that is one way of doing it because they were so dynamic and so emphatic that not many teams on that day could have lived with them.

I'm no master tactician obviously and there's no responsibility on me if the game plan doesn't work. But this one-off game mentality and the cup final element of it, if it is a Leeds performance that is akin to the second leg then that's it done and dusted.

But that sense of what the game is and how the set up goes is critical, absolutely critical to what Leeds get from the game.

I think confidence wise, performance wise and goalscoring wise, with what they got off the back of the second leg, I would be hard pressed to come away too much from an unchanged side.

I could absolutely fancy Leeds but the caveat that goes with that is what we have seen this season at times and also how these two teams have got on against each other. It's as close a play-off final as a neutral that you could possibly wish for and I've got family ties and historical professional ties with both.

I understand why it might be cagy and that it possibly will be cagy. But part of me is also thinking from an entertainment point of view how thrilling it would be just to see two teams going at it hammer and tongs. That would be amazing. Whether that's going to happen, I don't know.

But you've got one team that wants to dominate the ball on a big pitch and you have got one team that has shown that if it is given space and  afforded the opportunity to attack with pace then it absolutely can do that which has been a big plus part of what Leeds have done this season.

It's hard to talk about this game completely objectively, but in doing so, I can't wait for it to start.

In my prediction I have gone all the way to Leeds winning on penalties, 10-9, after a 1-1 draw. I know that sounds a little bit flippant. But it's so unbelievably tight.

With football punditry and opinion, people especially nowadays will lean more towards the sensationalist than the definitive. But I really can't with this. I think it's so tight but it's hopefully one for the ages.