Leeds are close to full strength for the vital televised game at home to Nottingham Forest tomorrow. This match will have a big bearing on which clubs will ultimately finish in the top six, although Simon Grayson hasn’t given up on automatic promotion. Don’t forget the game kicks off at 12.45, and it’s live on BBC1.

As the saying goes, Leeds destiny is all in our own hands, at least in terms of qualifying for the play-offs. Starting tomorrow we still have to play all three of the teams immediately below us at Elland Road, and if we can win all three of those games we should just about have sealed a place in the top six. But Simon Grayson was looking a little bit higher when he spoke to the official site.

"Saturday's game is the start of the final eight league games for us and you want a good result to set us off. This one game isn't going to decide anything, a defeat might knock us a little, but it won't alter what we are trying to achieve. It is, however, a great opportunity for us to pull away from a club that is close to us and hopefully close the gap on Norwich. You have to think QPR are in a position now where they won't be caught, but I'm sure Norwich will be looking over their shoulders.”

Personally, I think the points that we’ve dropped over the last month or so are going to leave us a little bit short in terms of winning automatic promotion, especially as Norwich and Swansea aren’t  showing any signs of slipping up, but you never know.

Johnny Howson is the one big injury doubt for tomorrow, as he’s still troubled by the hamstring problem that ruled him out of the England under-21 game last week. Grayson said “We've been monitoring him and will continue to do that. We want him to be fit, but if there's any doubt he won't play because there's seven more important matches after this one.” One definite absentee will be Billy Paynter, who starts the three match ban resulting from his sending off at Sheffield United.

If you thought that Simon Grayson was copping a bit of flack from some fans after our recent results, spare a thought for Forest boss, Billy ‘Job Done’ Davies. After Forest had reached the dizzy heights of second place in February, his team have had to suffer a run of only one win in the last ten games, and are now struggling to even qualify for the play-offs.  All the same, Davies was sounding defiant when he spoke to his club’s official website.

“You mark and judge where a club is over the course of a season, not a month. Through a long season you will get your good and bad times. I'm disappointed obviously with the return in the last number of weeks but at the same too I can sit back and look at the players and what they've given us. It's all about what we do over the course of a season and many big clubs at the bottom of this league would love to be in our position”.

Davies hasn’t been helped by a few injury problems in recent weeks, and now captain Paul McKenna has been ruled out for tomorrow after suffering a groin injury in training on Thursday, while Rob Earnshaw is a major doubt with a torn hamstring. And former England defender Paul Konchesky is also out with a hamstring injury. But on the plus side a couple of players have had the chance to recover during the international break, and striker Marcus Tudgay should be back from his illness and defender Joel Lynch after injury.

I know my predictions have been rubbish for the last couple of games, but I’m going to stick my neck out and go for a Leeds win once again. Forest’s poor recent form and lack of confidence should mean that they’re just not going to be good enough on the day.

Photo: Action Images

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