Noel Whelan feels Sheffield United have the steel and strikers Leeds United lack, with the Blades having now taken firm control of the race for second place in the Championship. 

The Whites have allowed their closest competitors in Sheffield United to open up a three-point lead in the race for automatic promotion with just two games remaining before the end of the season.




Chris Wilder’s men are now in pole position to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League after Leeds suffered back-to-back defeats against Wigan Athletic and Brentford, respectively, in their last two games.

And in the wake of their recent setback at Brentford that allowed the Blades to take a vital lead, Whelan feels Leeds lack the steel and strikers that have helped their direct rivals this term.
 


The former Leeds star believes Sheffield United are gritty on the pitch compared to the Whites and tipped his hat to the Blades for strengthening their squad wisely in January.

“I think they've just got a bit more steelyness about them, in their players”, Whelan told BBC Radio Leeds after the Brentford loss.  
 

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“There's a bit more nastiness about them, there's a bit more of a grit about them and they've got like four separate strikers they can choose from, and I think that's where we missed a trick.

“We've only had one, pretty much halfway through the season, of each, because one of them's been injured.

“They went out and got something different in Gary Madine. They've got [Conor] Washington, [Scott] Hogan, Billy Sharp, people that can come on and change a game.”

Sheffield United will next play Ipswich Town at Bramall Lane, before finishing their campaign away from home at Stoke City on the final day of the season.