Leeds’ start to the 2024-25 season: A tricky run but a chance to lay down a marker — The Athletic 27/6/24

By Nancy Froston

Leeds United know the task ahead of them.

It is simple: set out to beat every team in the Championship in 2024-25 to achieve promotion. In reality, Leeds will not win them all but with the release of the fixture list for the new season, they now know when they are taking on their challengers.

Daniel Farke’s side will start the season at home when they take on newly promoted Portsmouth in a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, August 10 and they will end it a long way from home at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, May 3.

Between those, there are trips to Stoke City on Boxing Day and a home game against Blackburn Rovers on New Year’s Day.

And then there are the games that every fan will look for, with local and historic rivalries to think about. Following their promotion last season, Derby County are back in the second tier and will play Leeds in quick succession in December. Paul Warne’s side will come to Elland Road on December 7 and Leeds will make the return journey to Pride Park on December 29.

Both of the matches against Millwall are midweek games as things stand. First, a Tuesday trip to The Den on Bonfire Night (ample opportunity for quips about fireworks there) and then Millwall will come to Elland Road on Wednesday, March 12.

But starting the season well will be important to Leeds if they are to realise their promotion ambitions this season.

Last year, it took until the fourth league game before things gelled for Farke, and United got their first win in a thrilling 4-3 victory away to Ipswich Town. The two draws and a defeat before that stage were not a disastrous start but, in the context of the season, it was a blip only beaten by the late-season drop-off that took them out of the automatic promotion places.

John Mousinho has worked wonders at Portsmouth, who will be ambitious despite their 12 years away from Championship football. Their attacking style saw them take the League One title, with talented forward Colby Bishop one to watch when they arrive at Elland Road. While it seems unlikely we will see a repeat of Ipswich’s back-to-back promotions any time soon, Portsmouth will not roll over easily and are set up for a good season under an exciting young manager. Their first five games, however, could hardly be tougher.

Using a ranking system based on where every team finished last season — with the relegated Premier League sides ranked as the most difficult opponents and the promoted League One sides ranked as the least difficult — Portsmouth have by far the hardest start across their opening five matches. Their games against Leeds (away), Luton Town (home), Middlesbrough (away), Sunderland (home) and West Brom (home) have the potential to be a rough reintroduction to the second tier.

Luton, who finished highest of the relegated Premier League teams last season, are assigned 24 points while West Brom, the highest-finishing team Leeds played last season who did not achieve promotion, count for 20 points. Points continue in descending order by the final league-table standing in 2023-24 down to Portsmouth, who count for three points, Derby (2) and Oxford United (1), who were promoted via the League One play-offs.

By the same metric, Leeds do not have an easy August either, with the ninth-hardest opening five fixtures by our rankings. No ranking system is perfect and, as United know only too well after late-season defeats to struggling Blackburn and Queens Park Rangers last year, anyone can beat anyone in the Championship.

Good results in that early period would be a real marker for Farke’s side. After Portsmouth, there is an away trip to West Brom, who also made the play-offs last season and were beaten in the semi-final by eventual winners Southampton. Not factored into our ranking system is the fact that Carlos Corberan’s team were one of only four sides in the 2023-24 Championship that Leeds failed to beat in either league game. As well as West Brom, Leeds did not register a victory over Coventry City, Sunderland or Southampton.

To finish off August’s fixtures, United will take on Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough and Hull City at Elland Road. Wednesday are an interesting prospect this season after they managed to retain the services of manager Danny Rohl. Wednesday and Hull offer two early Yorkshire derbies — although the latter are a lesser-known entity after the departure of manager Liam Rosenior. His team gave Leeds a close game at Elland Road in the latter part of last season before a dramatic 3-1 win was sealed with a Dan James goal from the halfway line.

The final test in Leeds’ initial block of five games will come after the September international break against Burnley. As was the case for Leeds, Southampton and Leicester City last season, all three relegated clubs will be tipped for an immediate return to the top flight — and the onus is on United to stop that from happening.

Losing was not a habit for Leeds last season, with the only other teams who inflicted defeat on them in one of the league meetings being Stoke City, Preston North End, QPR, Blackburn and Birmingham — with the latter now in League One.

Winning well and winning often is the key, and Farke had found a way of doing that in the most competitive Championship for years in 2023-24.

If Leeds can replicate most of that form this time around, the promotion picture should look healthy and would make for an enjoyable final day trip to Devon at Home Park. Start well in the opening five and it sets the tone; this is Leeds’ chance to lay down a marker for the rest of the campaign.