Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink makes Crysencio Summerville point about Leeds United's promotion chances | OneFootball

Leeds are trying to do this season what they couldn't do with the winger last season.

Former Leeds United and Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has revealed that he thinks Daniel Farke's squad is worthy of a top-two place in the Championship, despite losing the likes of Crysencio Summerville in the summer.

Despite being thwarted by the defensive unit of Bristol City on Saturday, Leeds are very much in the mix for the automatic promotion spots.

The 0-0 draw at Ashton Gate helped them to remain third in the league. They are on the same number of points as Burnley, who are in second, but are five points back from table toppers Sunderland.

There's still a lot of football to be played, but this is the point in the season when the league starts to take shape, and Leeds find themselves in a position that they would have hoped to have been in at the start of the season.

Concerns were raised about the Whites in the summer when they lost over £100 million worth of talent. Archie Gray, Summerville and Georginio Rutter all left to go to Premier League sides, leaving Leeds with a lack of quality compared to the squad that they fielded in the previous campaign.

Action was taken, players were brought in, and now they are in a much better state, in terms of their playing staff, than they were a few weeks before the summer transfer window shut.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink: Leeds have an automatic promotion-level squad

Even with the major losses in the summer, Hasselbaink, who played at Elland Road in the late 90s, thinks that the team that Farke has to work with is more than capable of achieving what they couldn't last season: finishing in the top two in the Championship.

He said, via Leeds Live, "Leeds should be targeting automatic promotion this season with the squad they have, even though they did lose some players in the transfer market like Crysencio Summerville.

"They have enough and I think they are just missing that consistency at the moment. They will find that and should have enough to get into the top two."

The Leeds boss admitted to this occasional drop in levels when speaking after his side's draw with the Robins. They had plenty of good chances to open the scoring in the game but were unable to due to poor finishing and strong defensive work by the hosts.

"We always play to win, rather than avoid losing, and we did more than enough to win this game,"said Farke. "But we were not at our very best and were wasteful in front of goal. It was a very solid away performance, but we had so many good situations to score.

"If we had got one, it would have opened things up and I am sure more would have followed. But we are respectful of Bristol City, who have started the season well and are a very good side.

"There is frustration over not getting all three points. But it’s my belief that the best defence in a division always wins promotion, so I am delighted with a rock-solid performance."

Leeds' promotion hopes may hinge on recent signings

Due to the recent injuries being suffered by many key players for the Whites, like Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev and Largie Ramazani, those who were not initially slated for a starting spot in Farke's side are now having to step into their positions.

Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell have impressed so far, while Manor Solomon has struggled since returning from injury.

Because Ampadu and Gruev aren't expected to be back until after the new year, and because the best case scenario for Ramazani is an end-of-November return, the likes of Tanaka, Rothwell and Solomon, plus recent free agent signing Joshua Guilavogui, must make sure that Leeds are in a good position when they return, in order to give themselves the best chance of securing that illusive promotion.