“Let’s be honest” - Sunderland favourite makes honest Leeds United promotion admission | OneFootball

Sunderland favourite Niall Quinn has admitted he is worried about Leeds United in the promotion race.

Former Sunderland player and chairman Niall Quinn has admitted he is more worried about Leeds United than Burnley in the Championship promotion race.

The Black Cats have enjoyed a brilliant start to the season under Regis Le Bris, as they’ve won nine of their 12 games to sit top of the table, and they have a five-point lead over the chasing pack.

Therefore, Sunderland fans are dreaming of promotion, as they seek to return to the top-flight for the first time since 2017.

Niall Quinn discusses Championship promotion battle

Of course, there’s still a long way to go this season, so nobody connected to Sunderland will be getting carried away.

But, you also can’t deny that Le Bris’ men are in a great position, and, more importantly, they are playing well and deserve to be leading the way.

However, there is a lot of quality in those teams below them, and Quinn told TalkSPORT that he expects Leeds to emerge as the biggest threat for his old club.

“Let’s be honest – Leeds I think look very strong. I think they were really unfortunate not to come away with the three points at the Stadium of Light a few weeks ago, and they’ll be up there. You know when the heel of the hunt arrives, they’ll be knocking on the door, and certainly I would fear them, possibly more so than Burnley.”

Leeds United will be targeting Championship title

Obviously, the only real objective for any club in the promotion mix is to go up, but Leeds will feel they are capable of catching Sunderland, and Daniel Farke has a squad that is capable of winning the league.

It’s worth remembering that if not for a glaring Illan Meslier howler when the sides played each other at the start of the month, the gap between Leeds and Sunderland would be just two points.

So, these are two good sides, and many would agree with Quinn’s assessment that Leeds are the biggest threat right now.

When you look at the Whites’ fixtures, they have already had some very tough tests, so Farke will be pleased with their points return, and they will back themselves to kick-on.

That’s not to dismiss Burnley, Sheffield United or West Brom, but Leeds have arguably shown the best form on their day.

Sunderland will be concentrating on themselves

It’s hard to imagine that Sunderland will be too worried about anyone else though, and, as mentioned above, they wouldn’t care one bit if they did finish below Leeds, as long as it saw them go up in the second automatic promotion spot.

But, Sunderland are where everyone wants to be right now, and they will just be focusing on their next game.

Le Bris is not the sort of manager to allow complacency to creep in, and he will be aware that highs and lows are inevitable over the course of a 46-game season.

So, it’s simply about trying to win the next game, and maintaining the high levels they have set over the past few months.