High noon on Sunday brings us arguably the biggest fixture of this weekend in the Championship when 3rd placed Leeds United play host to 5th placed Aston Villa with a precious three points up for grabs for both teams, but more so Leeds United as they look to make a last-gasp attempt at automatic promotion.
It’s now or never for Leeds United now as they trail their Yorkshire rivals and 2nd placed Sheffield United at the time of writing this, but with Sheffield United playing Ipswich Town on Saturday evening, it could all be virtually over before Leeds kick a ball on Sunday.
Nevertheless, Leeds United head into this clash looking to avoid a third defeat on the trot and they must take maximum points against an in-form Aston Villa outfit here following recent back-to-back defeats to Wigan Athletic and Brentford respectively.
Leeds have won 14 of their 22 home matches to date but pivotal losses to Norwich City and Sheffield United at Elland Road perhaps rightly has Leeds as the third best team in the Championship right now.
Aston Villa’s place in the play-off pack is virtually assured barring a miraculous sequence of results for 8th placed Bristol City who are nine points adrift but even more importantly, possess an inferior goal difference margin of 15 goals with just three matches remaining of their season.
Basically, a point for Villa at Elland Road guarantees them their play-off spot and as the west midlands club have won their last 10 matches on the trot overall in the Championship, they may even take all three against a nervous and tense Leeds United outfit here.
Following a five-match sequence without a win away from home in the second tier, Aston Villa have since bounced back in style by recording five wins on the trot on their travels with wins at Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United and Bolton Wanderers.
Dean Smith’s side are certainly coming home with a wet sail and have hit a purple patch of form at just the right time as the visitors start preparing for the play-offs in a few weeks time.
With so much riding on this game it’s hard to predict a clear outright option for the straight win. Leeds know they have to win this one, while Aston Villa will be keen to continue their momentum ahead of the play-offs - this could be a tight and tense affair which may produce very few goals.