Leeds United and Daniel Farke moved a step closer to securing the Championship title with a commanding 4-0 win over Bristol City at Elland RoadDaniel Farke and Leeds United got the better of Bristol City at Elland Road(Image: Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has explained that he was “worried” ahead of his side’s win over Bristol City at Elland Road as he and his players hadn’t returned to training until Friday following the confirmation of their promotion to the Premier League.

The Robins missed the chance to book their place in the play-off places as they were comfortably beaten 4-0 by the Whites on Monday evening, with goals from Ao Tanaka and Wilfried Gnonto as well as a brace from Largie Ramazani enough to secure the three points for the home side who returned to the top of the Championship table.

Although the win over the Reds has put Leeds in pole position to win the title this term, they had already secured their return to the top flight before a ball had been kicked at Elland Road on Monday evening following Burnley’s win over Sheffield United a week prior.

READ MORE: Bristol City face campaign-defining test as Leeds defeat reveals Robins’ end-of-season frailtiesREAD MORE: Liam Manning makes honest Bristol City play-off race admission after Reds’ loss vs Leeds United

With their primary goal already in the bag with two games to spare, Farke had allowed his players plenty of time to celebrate before preparations began for the clash with Liam Manning’s side and the Whites manager was concerned that could backfire in the lead-up to kick-off.

“Obviously the week was not the easiest week in terms of concentration and focus because the last couple of days we just concentrated on celebrating and we just returned back to professional football training, to be honest just on Friday,” the Leeds boss explained in his post-match press conference.

“Normally, then it’s not enough if you face such a good but also highly motivated side like Bristol who are sitting in the top six, need each and every point, is highly motivated and on a very good run. I was a bit worried before the game but I shouldn’t be worried because my lads showed again that they can focus and show the winning mentality, even under these circumstances to give us such a performance where we didn’t allow one chance, we scored four really fantastic goals and should have scored way more if I’m really honest.

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“It was again one of the best performances of the whole season under certain circumstances so I’m a pretty proud manager. We are so motivated to finish the season in style because we know we have created already the best home record in the history of Leeds United but we want to also finish this final home game with a top performance and I’m pretty proud we were able to do that.”

In truth, Leeds limited City to very little in the way of chances. Manning’s side were unable to truly test Karl Darlow in the Whites’ net, only registering a single shot on target over the course of the 90 minutes, with their best effort of the contest coming late on when Scott Twine fired over from the edge of the penalty area. Farke’s side had chances to stretch their lead further but fortunately, Max O’Leary was at his alert best to deny Manor Solomon, Junior Firpo and Jayden Bogle from close range either side of the break.

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Despite the one-sided nature of the match, the Leeds boss was quick to credit the Robins after the full-time whistle, shining a light on their impressive recent run of form whilst also laying out both his and his side’s ambitions for the remainder of the campaign,

“We played, at the moment, one of the best sides in this league and yes, we want to put the icing on the cake and also win the league,” Farke explained.

“For that, we took it seriously and wanted to win this game and didn’t want to give any gifts away.”

READ MORE: Leeds United 4 – 0 Bristol City recap: Robins second best all over in Elland Road defeatREAD MORE: Liam Manning makes ‘hangover’ point as Bristol City boss frustrated by Leeds United defeat