West Brom boss Tony Mowbray questioned the survival chances of any team winning Premier League promotion following his side’s battling 1-1 draw at Sky Bet Championship leaders Leeds.
Darnell Furlong’s first-half header secured Mowbray’s play-off chasers a hard-earned point at Elland Road after Junior Firpo had headed Leeds into an early lead.
Daniel Farke’s side sit eight points clear of third-placed Burnley and while Mowbray is convinced the Yorkshire club will win promotion this season, he is not so sure they would stay there.
Mowbray, whose own side are sixth in the table, said: “(Leeds) are very, very good. I’m sure in my mind that they are going up.
“I think for this football club it’s about what they do in the summer. I had a chat with Daniel, how much are they going to spend? How are they going to survive?
“Southampton and Leicester were amazing teams last year in this league and they can’t win a game. So is that going to be Leeds next year?”
Mowbray, who feels promotion has to be the target for clubs like Leeds and West Brom, said: “There’s always this thing at the back of your mind – ‘what are we going to do in the summer?’ Are Leeds going to spend £200million just to give themselves half a chance?
“Or are they going to go with this team and probably get relegated by February? I don’t know the answers.”
Mowbray was delighted with his side’s display at Elland Road, which bodes well for their remaining 11 games as they bid to secure a top-six finish.
“The energy was there the effort was there,” the former Middlesbrough and Blackburn manager added.
“We’ll take the point, but there were opportunities for us and we could have won it and we could have lost if of course. We were playing against a very good team.
“This will give the lads confidence knowing they can go anywhere in this league and compete.”
Leeds were not at their best after looking like champions-elect in their previous two matches, which they won against promotion rivals Sunderland and Sheffield United.
But Farke had no complaints with his side, who extended their unbeaten league run to 17 matches despite being frustrated by West Brom’s stubborn resistance.
The Leeds boss said: “It’s not frustration. Sometimes you have to settle and live with a draw and we can do this today.
“Obviously, we are used to winning games, especially home games, and we are are disappointed it’s not a win.
“You could see their equaliser coming because we didn’t fight like in the games before, with the knife between the teeth.
“We played with a bit of over-confidence and perhaps enjoyed ourselves too much and we lost a bit of our dominance and control over the game.”
