Leeds United can take confidence from intriguing play-off reveal ahead of Southampton clash: View | OneFootball

Leeds United take on Southampton in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Sunday.

The Whites missed out on automatic promotion after winning just two of their final eight games of the regular season, with Ipswich Town beating them to second place.

However, Leeds have returned to form for the play-offs and they booked their place in the final with a 4-0 win over Norwich City in their semi-final second leg at Elland Road on Thursday night.

Goals from Ilia Gruev, Joel Piroe, Georginio Rutter, and Crysencio Summerville sealed a comprehensive win for the Whites, and, in truth, the margin of victory could have been greater.

Leeds will take significant confidence from their dominant performance against the Canaries but it will not be an easy task against Southampton, who themselves comfortably made it through to the final with a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion at St Mary's on Friday night.

Southampton have plenty of attacking threats that can hurt Leeds, and they beat the Whites on both occasions in the league this season, giving Daniel Farke's side a big psychological barrier to overcome, but they should take inspiration from the League One and League Two play-off finals that took place over the weekend.

Leeds United should take hope from Oxford United and Crawley Town promotions

It is fair to say that Southampton have proven to be a tough opponent for Leeds this season.

The Saints recorded a 3-1 win over the Whites in the first meeting between the pair at St Mary's in September, with Adam Armstrong's double and Will Smallbone's strike giving them a three-goal lead after just 35 minutes before Pascal Struijk pulled one back for the visitors in the second half.

The two teams met for the second time on the final day of the season in what had been billed as a potential automatic promotion decider, but as it turned out, Southampton's top two hopes had been ended by then and Leeds only had a slim chance of beating Ipswich to second place.

The Saints had lost their previous three league games before the trip to Elland Road but they came away with a 2-1 victory, with goals from Armstrong and Smallbone either side of Joel Piroe's equaliser sealing all three points.

Having failed to pick up a point against Southampton this season, Leeds may be fearing the worst ahead of the final but as shown by Oxford United and Crawley Town's promotions this weekend, results in the league do not necessarily mean anything.

Oxford were winless in both of their games against Bolton Wanderers in the league this campaign, drawing 0-0 at the Kassam Stadium in November before suffering an emphatic 5-0 defeat at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in March.

After finishing third in League One, Bolton went into the final as strong favourites but the U's produced an outstanding performance as they won 2-0 at Wembley on Saturday, with Josh Murphy's first-half double securing their promotion to the second tier.

Crawley lost twice to their play-off final opponents, Crewe Alexandra, in the league this season, losing 4-2 at the Broadfield Stadium in October before being beaten 1-0 at the Mornflake Stadium in February.

However, the Red Devils were fancied by many ahead of the game after their remarkable 8-1 semi-final aggregate victory over MK Dons, and goals in either half from Danilo Orsi and Liam Kelly sealed a 2-0 win for Scott Lindsey's side, who were among the favourites for relegation in League Two at the start of the campaign.

Oxford and Crawley have proven that league results do not have to be a barrier to play-off final success and Leeds must forget their previous struggles against Southampton this season when they take to the pitch on Sunday.

It is set up to be an intriguing contest at Wembley this weekend and if the Whites can replicate their performance against Norwich, they will stand an excellent chance of making an immediate return to the Premier League.