Sunderland play Leeds United at Elland Road on Monday evening.

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has claimed that Leeds United are favourites to win the Championship title this season ahead of the Whites’ clash with Sunderland on Monday evening.

Daniel Farke’s side have stormed to the top of the table in recent weeks, and have not lost a league outing since November 30th. Furthermore, they haven’t conceded a goal in the second tier since January 4th, and have recorded a number of eye-catching victories of late, including a 7-0 demolition of Cardiff City and a 4-0 thrashing of Watford earlier this week.

It is within this context that Sunderland travel to Elland Road in the coming days, and Wilder has delivered a stark warning ahead of the potentially pivotal clash. Speaking in the aftermath of an impressive 3-1 win over Middlesbrough for his side on Wednesday evening, the Blades boss told The Star: “People look at tables and when somebody drops a couple of points and someone wins a game or whatever.

“We have just got to keep our heads down and keep doing what we are doing and if we do that, we are going to be in the mix. If we don’t, we will find ourselves out of it. We want to be involved in it right the way through to the end and if we keep producing those types of performances, then we are going to give ourselves a good chance.

“Leeds are the talked-about team and rightly so. They’re a fabulous group of players and are well-coached, smashing everybody here, there and everywhere. They’re everybody’s tip to win it. From my point of view, I’d say the same. But we want to make it interesting and hopefully we will do in terms of collecting the points and producing those performances.”

Sheffield United face a trip to Kenilworth Road to face Luton Town on Saturday, before meeting Leeds themselves on February 24th, and Wilder also took some time to play down the significance of a single result in the broader context of an entire promotion campaign. He added: "Listen, it's three points.

“It's not going to make or break our season. There would be an advantage of course, but there will be an advantage if we don't get a result at Luton. I'm too old and experienced to take my eye off the ball.

The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.

“That game will take care of itself. We've got to fully tune in to Saturday. It's still an incredibly difficult place to go and get a result. The Leeds United game will take care of itself. It won't define our season. We have to make sure we're bang at it in the next couple of days and come away with a positive result on Saturday.”

At the time of writing, Sunderland head into their game against Leeds seven points and three places beneath Farke’s men. The last time the two sides met, they drew 2-2 at the Stadium of Light, with the Black Cats equalising late on courtesy of a freakish Illan Meslier goalkeeping error.

Your next Sunderland read: I just watched Sunderland's crucial win over Luton Town and here's what Régis Le Bris got spot on