Favorites Leeds United defy Southampton theory as Championship play-off final looms

Leeds midfielder Ilia Gruev believes his side’s two defeats to Southampton this season will not count for nothing when they meet them again in the Championship play-off final.

Both Leeds and Southampton are bidding to return to the Premier League at the first attempt and will clash again in Sunday’s winner-takes-all clash at Wembley.

Russell Martin’s Saints won the first meeting 3-1 at St Mary’s Stadium in September and 2-1 at Elland Road on the final day of the regular season as Leeds missed out on automatic promotion.

Read more: Leeds United’s injury status ahead of Championship play-off final against Southampton

Asked if the two losses weighed heavily on Daniel Farke’s side, Gruev told the PA news agency: “No, I wouldn’t say that. Why should it?

“We know what kind of team we have, what a great team we are and we know we have to show that on Sunday. If we play at our best I know we can beat Southampton at Wembley and go into the Premier League.

“I wouldn’t say (it’s significant) because in the second game against them we played a different kind of football that we wouldn’t normally play.”

Leeds pressed for an early goal in that game against Saints as victory, along with a defeat for Ipswich, would have secured the Whites a top two finish.

“We wanted to put pressure on Ipswich by scoring early and we played with a lot more risk than we normally do,” Gruev said. “So it will be another different game at Wembley so it doesn’t bother us too much that we’ve lost games before.”

Leeds wrapped up their meeting at Wembley with a convincing 4-0 second-leg win against Farke’s former club Norwich in the semi-finals and Gruev paid tribute to his head coach.

The Bulgaria international, whose free-kick opened the scoring against Norwich, added: “He plays such an important role. You know what they expect from you, which is very important.

“When there are no journalists, he talks to us differently, which is really good because he’s direct and the players know how to handle it.

“He helps you because he wants to improve you, make you a better player and keep pushing to make a better team.”

Leeds hope striker Patrick Bamford can make a timely recovery from a knee injury that has kept him out of their last four games as they bid to win promotion through the play-offs for the first time in six attempts.