Farke: FOXES STILL in the Leed

Boss Daniel insists Leicester are favourites for title glory

view from the top Boss Farke has Leeds to the summit of the Championship

Watford v 8pm

DANIEL FARKE insists Leicester remain the Championship favourites – despite Leeds currently topping the table.

Leeds have slashed Leicester’s 17-point advantage and went above them on goal difference before the international break.

But, speaking ahead of Leeds’ showdown with Watford tonight, Farke insists Enzo Maresca’s side remain the team to beat.

Only a point separates the top three sides in the Championship, but Farke said: “No, we’re not favourites because Leicester have a game in hand and I expect them to take points from it.

“Then they will have the best possible option. Those are just the facts and that’s the reality.”

Leeds have taken an astonishing 37 points from 39 in 2024 to transform their promotion hopes and Farke paid tribute to his players for recovering so well after their difficult start.

Farke, who won the Championship with Norwich in 2019 and 2021, had to overhaul his squad after their Premier League relegation and they took just six points from their first five games.

He hailed the turnaround as “remarkable” and claimed the potential of Leeds was one of the factors that had attracted him to Elland Road last summer.

“It was perhaps not realistic in July or August to speak about being in such a great position and not just the position, but also what we’ve done in terms of performances and also the points tally,” said Farke.

“This is quite remarkable. But this is one of the reasons why I signed the contract here for Leeds United because I knew about the potential of this club and that you could achieve something special.”

Farke joked that Leeds were a “mission impossible” when he took over and said it was similar to when he arrived at Norwich in May 2017 because he had to build the club from the bottom up.

“I always love challenges and I know it was a bit like a mission impossible, but it was a quite similar situation once I joined Norwich because they were somewhere in midtable,” he said.

“The team was a bit too old, we had no money, we had an unbelievable financial pressure on us and in the next transfer window we needed to earn at least £25million.

“And this was without having many proper players under contract, so we had to develop some young players no one had ever heard of.

“We ended up in the Premier League and no one would have predicted that.”

Farke, who revealed defender Pascal Struijk will miss the rest of the season after groin surgery, added: “Leeds is a different club, but it feels like it’s a big, big challenge here and there’s no guarantee it will be the same outcome that we will be allowed to play in the Premier League. But at least we have the chance.”