I've played at incredible Elland Road and think Leeds United are pretty much guaranteed Championship promotion

Former Chelsea defender Tony Cascarino believes ‘everything is in place’ for Leeds United to be a Premier League team next season.

Leeds have the chance to further increase the gap on their promotion rivals this evening, with victory at Watford pulling them five points clear of second-placed Sheffield United and eight ahead of Burnley in third. But equally, dropped points will allow the pair and Sunderland to possibly gain ground when they play on Wednesday.

Focus inside Daniel Farke’s squad will be solely on their own performance levels, however, and a 13-game unbeaten league run has left them in a brilliant position to decide their own fate. There are now only 15 games left to ensure promotion is achieved and Cascarino, who faced some of the best Leeds teams in recent memory during the 1990s, has them down as hot favourites.

“[Leeds] have got the biggest squad; the biggest budget,” Cascarino told talkSPORT. “They have an incredible atmosphere at Elland Road. Everything is in place for Leeds to be a Premier League team. They're the ones you can see… I think they’re pretty much guaranteed. If they’re anything near their best, they will get promoted.”

Leeds will be wary of the growing confidence from outside voices, with so many points still to play for between now and May, but Cascarino is just the latest to tip them as overwhelming promotion favourites. Opposition managers and players - most recently Coventry City’s Matt Grimes - have often labelled Farke’s side the best in the league.

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EFL pundit Don Goodman suggested earlier this week that Leeds could win the Championship by a ‘wide margin’ if they come through a tricky four-game period without losing significant ground. Following this evening’s trip to Watford, they face Sunderland, Sheffield United and West Brom.

All three remain right in the race for promotion, with Sunderland and Sheffield United eyeing a top-two spot while West Brom have spent much of the campaign in a play-off place. But once Leeds do come through this four-game spell, the run-in favours them.

Following that March 1 visit of West Brom to Elland Road, Leeds will face only one current top-eight team in Middlesbrough during their final 11 fixtures. And so should they remain in the automatic promotion places, Farke’s side will have a return to the Premier League in their grasp.

But Farke and his players won’t be looking that far ahead, with focus solely on this evening’s trip to Watford. The Hornets had been struggling in recent weeks but were good value for a 2-2 draw at promotion-chasing Sunderland last weekend.

“They were pretty close to being the first team to win at Sunderland, the only team who came closer was us to be honest,” Farke said of his midweek hosts. “Physical side, robust side, some of their key players are or were not available, you always have different periods during a long Championship season.

“Their home record was quite impressive, perhaps not in the last weeks, they had this situation where several key players were not available. They were really difficult to beat, especially in the first half of the season. We travel with respect, but we’ve proven even in tough places, we are competitive.”