Sunderland travel to Elland Road to face Leeds United on Monday evening.

How do you solve a problem like Leeds United? That will be the question Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris asks himself over the coming days as the Black Cats prepare to face the Championship leaders at Elland Road on Monday night.

Daniel Farke’s side have taken on an imperious hue in recent weeks, and aside from putting seven past Cardiff City and four past Watford since the beginning of February, are currently on a run of six games without conceding a goal.

So far, so daunting, but if Le Bris’ tenure on Wearside has been hallmarked by anything, it is an ability to raise his game against the best and the brightest that the second tier have to offer. To that end, the Frenchman will no doubt be poring through the video tapes as we speak, desperately trying to identify the chink in Leeds’ armour with view to exploiting it in that unassumingly cerebral manner of his.

Of course, Le Bris and his whirring brain will undoubtedly be cooking up blueprints far beyond the ken of us mere mortals, but one key facet which stands out when examining the formula that has brought Leeds so much success this season is the extent to which they value time on the ball and the ability to dictate the tempo of matches by maintaining control of possession.

Indeed, in the Championship, only Swansea City have eclipsed the Whites’ average of 60.1% per 90 minutes, and that figure is made all the more menacing when you consider that Sunderland tend to average just 49.1%. By no means is that bad, but when taken in conjunction with Leeds’ proclivity to run teams ragged and pick them off with a barrage of short, sharp passes, it doesn’t necessarily bode well.

Nobody in the second tier has completed more passes, more key passes, or more successful through balls than Farke’s side this season, as per Wyscout, and as such, freely allowing them to keep the ball - as the Black Cats have done on occasion against lesser opposition in recent months - might not be the wisest plan.

Then there is the question of intensity. According to the stats, Leeds’ passing rate - that’s the number of passes they make per minute of possession - comes in at a division-best average of 15.5. In other words, they move the ball quickly and with purpose. By contrast, and for context, Sunderland’s passing rate is the seventh-worst in the Championship this term.

Furthermore, Sunderland, on average, allow some 12.41 passes against them per defensive action, meaning that they take notably longer than some teams to win the ball back. As a point of reference, that figure is the ninth-worst in the second tier at the time of writing, and in direct contrast, Leeds’ comparable tally is 9.4 - again, bettered only by Swansea.

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Factor in the Black Cats having the third-lowest challenge intensity - that’s the combined number of duels, tackles and interceptions per minute of opponent possession - across the entirety of the division, and the bigger picture begins to look a little concerning, especially when you consider the fact that Leeds’ average is the seventh-best the Championship has to offer.

So, what can we take from these various statistics? Well, a lot and a little. In one sense, it is worth emphasising that the tactical battle at Elland Road will be contested by much keener footballing minds than mine or yours. In another, you suspect that if Sunderland turn up and dawdle their way through 90 minutes of Leeds’ customary onslaught, it won’t end well for them. Intensity won’t be the only factor on Monday evening, but it will be a factor, and to that end, Le Bris has to make sure that his side are willing to get at their hosts and properly disrupt their usual game plan. If they don’t, it could be a long night in Yorkshire for the Black Cats.

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