Leeds United told by ex-Chelsea man two key reasons they are primed for Premier League return

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes the combination of a strong squad and experienced manager has Leeds United well-placed to win Championship promotion this season.

Leeds climbed into second-place with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, with goals from Dan James, Joel Piroe and Brenden Aaronson coming inside an electric eight-minute spell at Elland Road. Defeat for Burnley at Millwall means Daniel Farke’s men remain in the automatic promotion places ahead of their own trip to the Den on Wednesday.

It’s a much-improved start to the campaign for Leeds, who were 14 points off top-spot at this point last season, and just one defeat so far has left many predicting the imminent return of Premier League football to West Yorkshire. And Hasselbaink has echoed those claims, adding that the experience of last season’s play-off final defeat will only help his former side going forward.

“Everything is looking good for my old club to get back into the Premier League this season,” Hasselbaink told Lucky Block. “Leeds are a club that belongs in the Premier League. I think they’ve been missed and I think the Premier League will be a better place with them in it.

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“I look at Leeds’ squad, and I like what I see. I think they’ve got a really strong squad, maybe the best in The Championship. They’ve got an experienced manager in Daniel Farke who knows what it takes to reach the Premier League, which is helpful because the Championship is such a difficult league and it's incredibly demanding.

“They will have learned from what happened to them last year. I hope they can do it. I think they can do it. I’ve got my fingers crossed for them to have a great season.”

A good weekend for Leeds also saw early frontrunners Sunderland drop points after drawing 0-0 at Queens Park Rangers. The Black Cats remain three points clear in first ahead of their trip to Preston North End on Wednesday. West Brom also dropped points with a fifth straight draw at Luton Town, with Carlos Corberan’s side winless in seven.

Leeds will look to go one better than Burnley in getting a result at the Den on Wednesday, but Millwall will be no pushovers. Neil Harris’ side have won their last three and are slowly climbing towards play-off contention, having been unfortunate to win just two of their first 10 games.

After facing all of the current top six, Leeds can look forward to a favourable run of fixtures between now and the New Year, with their promotion rivals all down to play each other over the next few weeks. Following Wednesday’s trip to Millwall, the Whites host QPR at Elland Road on Saturday before the November international break.