Leeds striker Patrick Bamford tries to crank up pressure on Sheffield United

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Leeds United centre-forward Patrick Bamford has tried to crank up the pressure on promotion rivals Sheffield United for the remainder of the season.

Marcelo Bielsa’s team go into the international break third in the Championship table and as it stands would have to go through the play-offs to try seal a return to the Premier League.

The Whites lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield United at the weekend, which meant the Blades leapfrogged them into second.

Leeds now trail Sheffield United by a point with eight league games remaining and Norwich are a further four points ahead of them at the summit.

Bamford has perhaps started the mind games early by putting some pressure on Sheffield United, stating  it will be interesting to see how they cope with occupying an automatic promotion spot.

“For once the pressure is taken off us, we are no longer in the driving seat, us and Norwich have been in the top two places, but Sheffield haven’t had that pressure yet, they have always been the underdog and it will be interesting to see how they deal with it,” Bamford said, as quoted by the club’s official website.

“The majority of the focus is going to be on the other two teams and hopefully we can do our business and get on with it, with a little less focus.”

TBR’s View:

It’s likely that there are still plenty of twists and turns to take place in the promotion race, which is why one point between second and third is so minimal right now.

Leeds will need to recover from the psychological blow of dropping to third, as it has seemed for most of the season that they are destined for a top two finish.

Sheffield United will now have to try lead from the front and they are going to feel a different kind of pressure to that of chasing.

Bamford is likely to play a key role in the Leeds revival, as he’s scored seven goals in just 17 games across all competitions so far this season.