Preston North End manager Alex Neil believes Leeds United will have to guard against their tendency to fall off a cliff in terms of their form, in order to achieve promotion this season.

Leeds moved three points clear at the top of the Championship table on Tuesday night when they scored a comfortable 3-0 win over Preston at Elland Road.




Marcelo Bielsa has been insisting for a while that it is too early in the season to judge Leeds as a team, but the talk of promotion around the club has been building over the last few weeks.

Leeds just fell apart last season following a good start as well and in the previous year, they lost all momentum towards the end after seemingly looking like a shoe-in for a top-six spot for the majority of the campaign.
 


Neil admits that Leeds look like a team vying for promotion to the Premier League at the moment, but stressed that they cannot fall apart like previous years if they are to sustain a challenge.

Asked if Leeds are promotion contenders, the Preston boss said in a press conference following the match: "It's tough to say.

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“Having looked at them, they looked really good – but nothing is won at this stage of the season.

“In years gone by, they've done well to a point before tailing off.

"They'll be trying to make sure that's not the case."

Leeds have another home game on Saturday afternoon when Birmingham City visit Elland Road.