Daniel Farke’s Whites pulled five points clear at the top of the Championship table with Wednesday evening’s 2-0 victory at Coventry City but having played a game more than key rivals Sheffield United who fell five points adrift in third. After Leeds lost to Millwall in the FA Cup, Saturday afternoon’s hosting of Portsmouth offered the Blades the chance to move back into second place and just two points behind the Whites.
Despite boss Chris Wilder slamming their performance, the Steel City side did just that, a 2-1 victory leaving them two points behind Leeds in second with 15 games left. Burnley dropped back to third by virtue of being in FA Cup action and Scott Parker’s Clarets now sit three points behind Sheffield United and five points behind Leeds on the same amount of games played.
Saturday’s league action also saw a missed opportunity for fourth-placed Sunderland who were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Watford, a result which leaves the Black Cats two points behind Burnley, five behind the Blades and seven adrift of Farke’s table-topping Whites.
After the weekend’s fresh twists, stats experts Opta have now released their new predicted final table and points and here is the full rundown in reverse order, rounding figures up or down to the nearest full number.
21. 4th: Sunderland (play-offs)
Predicted points: 83 (83.37) - down from 84. Photo: Stu Forster
22. 3rd: Burnley (play-offs)
Predicted points: 89 (89.42) - missing out on automatic promotion by a point). Photo: Gareth Copley
23. 2nd: Sheffield United (automatic promotion as runners-up)
Predicted points: 90 (89.77) - up from 89. Photo: Cameron Smith
24. 1st: Leeds United (promoted as champions)
Predicted points: 95 (95.23) - down from 96. Now winning the division by five clear points as opposed to seven. Photo: Ben Roberts Photo