David Wagner shares the ‘truth’ about Leeds United ahead of their play-off semi-final against Norwich City

The second leg takes place at Elland Road next Thursday and Leeds will be hoping for a positive result in that game with home advantage at their back.

None of the four teams competing in the play-offs will be in good form, but it is undoubtedly Leeds who have the biggest task of getting themselves through to the end of the season.

A run of four losses in their last six games saw them agonize over a place in the top two, and no team in league history has ever made the playoffs with such a record.

Wagner makes ‘beachy’ claims about Leeds ahead of Norwich clash

Although OPTA have Leeds as promotion favourites, after finishing third, supporters are not too confident of their team’s chances.

Of the other three teams in the top six, Norwich are actually the only team Leeds managed to beat in the regular season as they completed a league double over the Canaries.

With all these factors in mind, Wagner has already tried to put all the pressure on Leeds ahead of Sunday and did so again yesterday in his press conference.

The Norwich boss believes Leeds should already be “on the beach” amid how they blew away automatic promotion, but now insists their chances of promotion are exactly the same as his Norwich side.

He said: “The truth is they know more or less everything about us and we know everything about them. Timing in my experience is not the deciding factor. If they had beaten QPR and Southampton they would now be on the beach while we argued.

“90 points was not enough to reach their automatic promotion target. They now have 25% chance like us. You always ask in life to have a chance and we’ll be there and ready.”

Sam Allardyce says who he wants to win the play-offs

It’s been 12 months since Sam Allardyce spent four games in charge at Leeds, with his caretaker spell not enough to keep the Whites in the Premier League.

Allardyce is very much backing his old club to do business and then settle back into the top flight after clearly enjoying his time at Elland Road.

He said: “Obviously I want Leeds because I was there last season and found it, in just a short time, a great club. I hope he gets back there and gets some stability in terms of trying to stay there this time.

“It’s been a good season for them, but if they don’t quite make it, like with everything else, what happens financially? Then they have to cut back financially and it becomes more difficult then.”

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