"Sneaky feeling" - Alan Smith issues Leeds United, Burnley FC prediction | OneFootball

The former Manchester United and Leeds player has made his prediction for the Championship promotion race.

Former Manchester United and Leeds United ace, Alan Smith, has predicted that his former side and Burnley will win promotion to the Premier League automatically, with the race for the top two heating up.

The Whites were held to a 1-1 draw by West Bromwich Albion on Saturday afternoon, while the Clarets are not in action until Tuesday evening after losing in the FA Cup fifth round to Preston North End at Deepdale at the weekend.

The 3-0 defeat means that Scott Parker's side's full focus will now be on the battle for promotion, but they will have to overhaul the five-point deficit that Sheffield United now have over them following their 2-1 victory away to QPR.

It means that the top three are covered by just eight points, as Burnley get set for a trip to Cardiff City to help close the gap to Leeds and the Blades.

Alan Smith drops Championship promotion prediction

The race for automatic promotion has been incredibly close all season, and up until the last few weeks, Sunderland also had a very credible shout of finishing in the top two.

However, back-to-back defeats saw the Black Cats fall away from the leading pack, leaving a three-way shootout. Daniel Farke's team have been incredible in the last few months, with their unbeaten run in the league stretching back to the start of December.

But, with Burnley so defensively strong, they could be the ones to watch in the coming weeks and former Leeds and Man United player, Smith, believes that they could pip Sheffield United to second place.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World via Goplay Wille P about the fight for promotion to the Premier League, he said: "I think Leeds have put themselves in a great position, especially with a eight-point gap to Burnley in third.

"It’s difficult as, like Leeds last year, one of those two teams will feel aggrieved like last year in not going up. I think Leeds will be one, and a sneaky feeling that Burnley will be the other just because they are so solid defensively, I think it's 12 clean sheets in a row."

Smith concluded: "Scotty [Parker] is obviously defensively minded, and if you can get to the halfway point and beyond keeping clean sheets, you know that you’re defensively strong and can give yourself the impetus to go and score goals like they did against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night when they went and scored four."

Leeds' gap over Burnley hands them a huge advantage

Despite their draw with West Brom, Leeds continue to hold all the cards in the fight for promotion and they do look the most likely to win the league title at this moment in time.

Farke has masterminded 12 wins in his team's last 17 Championship games, drawing the other five and it is this consistency that has seen them take control since the turn of the year.

They have been sat at the top of the table since beating Stoke City on Boxing Day and wins over both Sheffield United and Sunderland in the last couple of weeks have seen them take points off rivals in the dying moments of games.

Burnley may just have enough to pip the Blades to second, but all eyes will be on the two when they meet at the end of April, a match that looks likely to define the promotion race.