Alex Mowatt admits former club and weekend hosts Leeds United have ‘taken off’ since drawing 0-0 at his West Brom side in August.
Leeds and West Brom played out a turgid 0-0 draw at the Hawthorns just over six months ago, with the former still looking for their first win of the season after another slow start. There was even some early pressure on Daniel Farke, whose side had conceded six goals from their opening two games across league and cup before losing fan-favourite Georginio Rutter to Brighton.
The Whites didn’t exactly kick on following that goalless stalemate, with more hiccups to come through September, October and November. But December started with a 2-0 win over Derby County and in the 15 league games since, they are unbeaten. Leeds have taken 40 points from 48 on offer during that run, enough to take them five clear at the top of the table.
Mowatt on Leeds
“We know what it will be like and they are flying this season,” Mowatt, who spent 13 years at Leeds, told BBC Radio West Midlands ahead of his Elland Road return. “We played them early doors this season and it was a good game but since then they’ve taken off. Hopefully we can have a good game there and play our style.
“I don’t know actually (about the reception he’ll get). Quite a lot of my mates are Leeds fans, they’ll be giving me stick because they’re near the corner flag, we’ll see what happens. We go knowing it’ll be really difficult, but we go wanting to play our way.”
The gap between league leaders Leeds and their fifth-placed visitors is a huge 24 points at present, with Farke’s side part of a four-team group who have pulled away from the chasing pack. But West Brom can lay claim to being the best of the rest, having leapfrogged Blackburn following last weekend’s 2-0 win over Oxford United.
Another tight play-off race
In doing so, they lead what could be a 10-team race for the final two play-off places, with no one able to sew together the kind of run that would set them apart from the group. The Baggies haven’t actually won back-to-back games since following up that 0-0 draw against Leeds with four victories on the spin going into September, a quite remarkable run for the fifth-placed side.
“It’s been a really strange season, we lose a game and then we draw and we check the table and we’re still sixth,” Mowatt added. “We’ve got a great chance now, the longer the gaffer has been here we want to adapt to his style more, it was pretty much a lot different to Carlos’ way.
“So the more games we have under him the better it can get. The top four are sort of above and away and all the way down to 14th or 15th is really tight. We want to stay in the play-offs and hopefully we can do that.”
I spent 13 years at Leeds United – they’re absolutely flying but I want to end their unbeaten run
