Former Leeds United midfielder David Prutton believes Huddersfield Town showed last season the importance of a good start to the campaign.
Huddersfield shocked most observers last term when they earned promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs and the Terriers have also made a good start to life in the top tier of English football.
Leeds are looking to emulate their Yorkshire rivals this term and are at the top of the Championship table seven games into the campaign; Prutton feels the league table at this stage of the season does matter contrary to popular opinion.
He has pointed out that Huddersfield made a similar start in the Championship and despite their naysayers, David Wagner’s side managed to stick around in the top six until the end of the campaign.
Prutton believes the early points helped Huddersfield to remain on track despite suffering a few bad results later on.
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He wrote in his column for the Yorkshire Evening Post: “To anyone who says the table doesn’t matter at this stage, I cautiously disagree.
“A year ago it was Huddersfield Town in first place with 16 points; out of the blue, totally unfancied but sticking around.
“You’d have lost count of the number of people who said it wouldn’t last, and maybe I was one of them, but they did what successful teams do – they gave themselves a cushion.
“Huddersfield had their challenges and they had their wobbles but when results got away from them, they had the safety net of points in the bag early on.”
Leeds have not conceded a goal in a Championship game since their opening game against Bolton Wanderers
