"No disrespect to Burnley and Sheffield United" - Sky Sports pundit makes clear Leeds United claim | OneFootball

Andy Hinchcliffe believes Leeds United will still finish top of the Championship

Sky Sports pundit Andy Hinchcliffe has labelled Leeds United as "comfortably the best team" in the Championship as the promotion race continues to heat up amid competition from Burnley and Sheffield United.

The Whites had endured a run of just one win in six games prior to their meeting with Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday night, but returned to the summit on goal difference, with the decisive strike coming from the boot of Dan James after just two minutes.

Daniel Farke's side were able to capitalise on the Clarets dropping points in a goalless draw against a resurgent Derby County side at Pride Park, which extended Scott Parker's side's unbeaten league run to 27 games, whilst the Blades suffered consecutive 1-0 defeats at the hands of Oxford United and Millwall.

The race for Premier League football has already seen plenty of twists and turns across the 41 matchdays thus far. And, whilst Hinchcliffe is anticipating more to follow, such is the dramatic nature of the second tier, he believes Leeds will continue to hold the edge over their nearest challengers.

Speaking on Sky Sports' Essential EFL podcast alongside Simeon Gholam, the former full-back reviewed the previous round of midweek action in the second tier, with the top-flight race unsurprisingly a hot topic of discussion after plenty of twists unfolded once more.

United were able to see off Michael Carrick's outfit, who had won five of their previous seven games, in a controlled manner, and also saw goals from Ao Tanaka and Patrick Bamford controversially ruled out for offside.

It was this level of performance which once again left the pundit impressed, as how momentous the three points could prove to be at the end of the season.

“It was a brilliant game. It was great advert for the Championship. They had to dig in," Hinchcliffe said.

That's what he (Farke) said as well. So again, he knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, but winning it. You can see the celebrations.

"It was like they've been promoted after the game. They knew the importance. It's arguably the single most important game Leeds have won this season because of the nature of the top of the table, because of the form of Middlesbrough (and) that Leeds were struggling to win games."

"And that's unusual this season. So it was such a massive performance, a huge result. But I think again, it will just give them such enormous confidence going into the Preston game," he added.

"And I think again, the fans now think, right, we can take a breath. We won a game. We can get right behind the team again, because they would have been fearing the play-offs again with what had happened over the last six matches."

"They would have been thinking, we've been so good, the best team in the league for so long, and we're just going to fall away and drop into the play-offs. It looks like that's not going to happen now with that performance and result against Middlesbrough.

Andy Hinchcliffe drops "best team" tag on Leeds United amid Burnley, Sheffield United pressure

When asked by Gholam if he believes Leeds will see themselves over the line, the 56-year-old stated: Yeah, I've always said, and my confidence in them hasn't wavered, I said it is Leeds plus one. Leeds are the best side."

"You look at their performances, look at their dominance of the ball, the chances of goals they've scored, the goals they've conceded.

"They are the best team, comfortably the best team in the league, the best team to watch as well," he claimed. "So that's no disrespect to Burnley and Sheffield United. If they finish above Leeds and go up, well done."

"But Leeds are the best side. Even the best sides have wobbles. It is the Championship as well."

"We're not talking about Premier League players and teams here. So it's going to happen. But they are the best team.

"And I've always said it is Leeds plus one. So it looks, again, we've got to say in midweek now, it looks as if it is Leeds plus one. But things can change," he concluded.

Next up in the automatic promotion race

Leeds will look to back up a pivotal victory against Boro against Preston North End on Saturday lunchtime, as well as bettering an underwhelming 1-1 draw at Deepdale back in mid-December.

This comes after Burnley's encounter with an out-of-form Norwich City side at Turf Moor on Friday night, with Parker's side knowing they can reclaim top spot for a brief period if they are to maintain their unbeaten home record in front of the Sky cameras.

Meanwhile, Chris Wilder will hope for the strongest of reactions after two below-par performances from his side, who have still racked up the most wins in the division so far.

The Blades travel to bottom of the table Plymouth Argyle, which kicks off at the same time as Leeds' fixture with the Lilywhites at Elland Road.