Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit fires Premier League warning to Leeds United, Sheffield United and Burnley | OneFootball

Hendrie has exclusively told FLW that he fears for the likes of Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley should they win Premier League promotion.

Ex-player and pundit Lee Hendrie has exclusively told Football League World that he fears for the Championship sides who win promotion to the Premier League this season, given how Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City have fared this year.

The race for the top flight is heating up in the second tier, with Leeds United, Sheffield United and Burnley the three front-runners heading into this weekend's matchday 36 round of fixtures.

All three clubs will have hopes of surviving in the Premier League should they get there, but with it looking increasingly likely that we will see back-to-back seasons in which the three newly promoted teams drop straight back down to the Championship, fears are growing that the gap between English football's top two divisions is only increasing.

"So much wider" - Lee Hendrie believes gap between Premier League and Championship is only increasing

Speaking exclusively with FLW, we asked Hendrie: 'Do you fear for the likes of Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley if they go up, given how Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich have struggled? Is the gap too wide now?'

Hendrie said: "Just going off the back of the Leeds situation if they get promoted, do I fear for the likes of Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley if they do go up?

"As we've seen with the likes of Saints, Ipswich, Leicester, they've just really struggled. Previous to that, over seasons I think the gap is just getting so much wider and so much bigger.

"It almost spells itself out in the Premier League these days. The divide of having Premier League experience, the divide of staying in the Premier League and keeping bigger players - because that is the problem.

"Lots of teams obviously go into the Premier League and then sort of lose their bigger players, their bigger assets at times. Likewise, if they drop back into the Championship. So it's a real tough call."

Hendrie does believe Leeds, Sheffield United have one key element needed to survive in Premier League: a fortress

Making your home stadium a horrible place to play for opposing teams is such a critical ingredient to Premier League survival as a newly promoted side from the Championship, and Hendrie believes Leeds and Sheffield United in particular have that going for them should they book their place in the top flight this season.

He continued: "Unless you're going to throw loads of cash at it, which we know you can't do with the financial fair play, it's all about being hard to beat, and having a real solid foundation. Like I said, Leeds have a little bit of an upper hand by having that fortress at Elland Road.

"To be fair, that's where I think it is. It's the same with Sheffield United if they go up. That's a tough place to go Bramall Lane.

"But, I think the quality and the divide of the teams that are coming out of the Championship and into the Premier League, it's just getting so much bigger. That's where I feel something has to be done.

"Otherwise, we're just going to have a rotation of teams getting promoted and getting relegated. Yes, I understand that the money will be involved where they get parachute payments and what not, but the key figure for these clubs is that the goal should be: 'can we survive and put up a good fight in the Premier League?'

"That's where I think that it's getting worse and worse at the moment, and that's probably down to funds, finances and not having the quality."