Wilfried Gnonto pinpoints moment he believed Leeds United could win the Championship amid Leicester City claim

Wilfried Gnonto admits it has been 'tough' keeping pace in the Championship promotion race but victory over Leicester City last month gave him belief that the title could come to Elland Road.

Leeds United will spend the international break at the Championship's summit after capitalising on Leicester's FA Cup commitments and beating Millwall 2-0 last weekend. Daniel Farke's men have clawed back an incredible 17 points on the Foxes after winning 12 of a 13-game unbeaten run since the turn of the year.

That run included a dramatic 3-1 comeback win over Leicester themselves last month, a second victory over Enzo Maresca's side this season in which three goals in the final 10 minutes turned the tide. After also doing the double over Ipswich Town, Leeds sent a strong message in taking all six points from two of their other promotion rivals and Gnonto felt from that moment that silverware was very possible.

“It's been tough for us,” Gnonto told the Official Leeds United podcast of the promotion race. “At the start of the season and also during the season it's been tough because we have seen Leicester and Ipswich flying. At that point you see us being 17 points from Leicester or Ipswich in second place and it's tough at that point to say ‘we can win the league’. 

“But the more you play, the more you win, you get the confidence to say we can be there. After we beat Leicester, that was the game when I really understood that we can go and win the league because we won against them away as well and you can tell, they are first but we can still play our football and dominate the game so why can we not do it? They lost some points, we have always been focused on ourselves and now we are there fighting. We are in a good position to achieve our goals.”

Leeds looked set for the unbearable tension of play-off football after losing consecutive games against Preston and West Brom over Christmas, a period that was especially disappointing given that it followed the 4-0 thrashing of Ipswich. But something clicked as 2024 arrived and Farke's men have looked unstoppable since - although Gnonto insists there was no change of approach, rather an improvement of luck.

“I don't think anything really changed because we had back-to-back defeats and if you actually looked at the games, we were a bit unfortunate,” the Whites forward added of the new year turnaround. “We just kept going. 

“When you work hard, you keep going, you are positive and you believe then luck will come on your side. That's been the difference. When you start to win a couple of games, the confidence is high and everything comes quicker. In the way we have done things I don't think there's been a big difference.”