'Absolutely brutal': Challenge issued to Leeds United player in statement of intent with warning

Leicester and Ipswich are not in action until Monday night and, realistically, from a Leeds angle, you'd probably want Ipswich slipping up against the Foxes. Victory for Leeds against Sunday's visitors Preston North End would close the gap to Ipswich to four points but Southampton might be second by then as they play Swansea City on Saturday lunchtime.

There are so many different dynamics to the whole thing but Leeds have just got to keep on doing what they have done. We have spoken a little bit about that slow start. That's ancient history now. We looked at those couple of dodgy results over Christmas. Again, that's been and gone.

But Leeds seem to have righted that and they've also been able to bring someone like Patrick Bamford into the fold who has hit the ground running and that has been fantastic to see. As much as there is frustration with where the top two and third-placed Southampton are, there's got to be a broad appreciation of the kind of work that has been done off the back of that and going into these particular games. What Daniel has done with the side has been good to watch. It's been a set of results and performances that have been inherently positive.

Maybe it's a chapter for further down the road if we get to the play-offs or to around the end of the season where you kind of kick yourself a little bit for the start that you had. But all they can do is maintain what they are doing and I still don't think the top two is a foregone conclusion given the up and down nature of what the Championship is.

You can look at Leicester's position with regards to injuries and players away at AFCON and suspensions now with Abdul Fatawu being suspended. Ipswich had a great comeback result against Sunderland last weekend but they are still potentially looking at a striker situation. Kayden (Jackson) obviously came in and scored a good goal but they are going to miss (George) Hirst. No team is absolutely flat track smashing people to pieces.

But as much as Leeds are looking upwards, there are teams below them in excellent form such as Coventry City for example who will have eyes really firmly fixed on what potentially they could do between now and the end of the season.

Southampton are now unbeaten in 19 and they are phenomenal. I will be intrigued to see how Swansea and Southampton match up at the weekend. Russell Martin did a fantastic job with Swansea and I say this with the greatest respect but he has been given a group of players now at Southampton that are predominantly Premier League players and look what he's getting out of them. It's a fantastic return that he's got. You give them an inch like potentially Sheffield Wednesday did and they will smash you to pieces.

They are a thoroughly dominant side of possession, they've got a devastating way of finishing teams off and they were in second spot for a couple of hours last weekend before the Ipswich game. You have got to be wary of what Ipswich and Leicester have got but this very good Southampton squad that Russell Martin has got is absolutely purring at the moment.

Leeds were out of the top division for 16 years before finally coming back under Marcelo Bielsa and that goes to show that getting back in there will not be plain sailing at all. Leeds fans know that more than anyone. You have got very good teams performing very well. Just look at the points tally that teams are racking up.

I don't think it would be too much of an outlandish statement to say that Leeds will need to be close to perfect results wise to get into the top two now. That kind of averaging two points per game normally gets you in and around it. But it's a fascinating battle at the top with the quality of the squads.