Norwich City v Leeds United: Championship play-off preview

As soon as the whistle blew on the Canaries' regular Championship season, the attentions of their dedicated tactical experts will have turned to Daniel Farke's side, straining every particle of preparational brain matter to find a chink in the Whites' armour.

What they've got going for them, and equal measure against them, this time is more than 180 minutes of experience against their opponents this Sunday, two defeats at the hands of the Yorkshire promotion chasers.

Although things can change rapidly in football and there will always be minor tweaks happening, a great deal can be learned from those two fixtures.

Perhaps the most obvious United weakness for Norwich to exploit, and the first they did this season, is their susceptibility from set-pieces.

As Farke's City side were in his four years at Carrow Road, Leeds have been porous from corners and crossed free-kicks this season, as Shane Duffy found out to his joy back in October.

The Irishman nodded his only goal for the club so far beyond Illan Meslier to open the scoring in NR1, and there wasn't much difficulty to it. He simply strolled to the near post and flicked home, perhaps the most traditional set-piece goal Norwich have scored this term.

Had it not be for a hard-to-spot foul in the lead-up he would have had a second when he repeated the trick, but in any case it's an area David Wagner will have a key eye on.

The Canaries exploited Leeds' set-piece weakness back in October last year (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

Speaking of Meslier, he's a man Wagner may also be targeting. The Frenchman's shocking evening in a 4-0 loss to QPR was the latest trigger of vitriol from his own support, and that Duffy header wouldn't have beaten the majority of the division's goalkeepers.

Although Wagner won't want his players shooting from all over the pitch or taking anything for granted, it may be worth a hit-and-hope from time to time to keep the 24-year-old honest.

But when it comes to individual quality there aren't many weaknesses in the Leeds squad, and that's something the hots will have to be wary of on Sunday.

To mention Joe Rodon, Willy Gnonto, Patrick Bamford, Georginio Rutter and Glen Kamara would be highlighting just a small percentage of the quality in Farke's squad, and keeping them from damaging City's play-off push will be more than a tactical task.

There's no one better to sum it up than Norwich right-back Jack Stacey, who's already come up against Championship player of the year Crysencio Summerville on two occasions.

"A lot of their quality is individual, which is very hard to deal with in terms of setting up strategically, but that's a battle on the day," he said of Leeds. "In order for us to get promoted we need to play the best players, the best teams.

"We're going to have to win battles all over the pitch if we want to go through."

Winning battles will be key, as Stacey says, but there's even more onus for forward players to do that given the importance of the press in stifling what's been Leeds' main source of creativity against Norwich this term.

Although the home side did have a 2-0 half-time lead in the two teams' first meeting of the season, a great deal of that was due to the visitors' wastefulness on the counter. If Wagner's men are to progress beyond this tie, they'll need to keep those to a minimum.

With a variety of defenders for the German to choose from but few of them especially pacey, that relies on the likes of Josh Sargent, Gabriel Sara and Borja Sainz to stop attacks at source. It may well be what allows them to attack while remaining solid at the other end.

This is also a Leeds side that, contrary to when Farke was at Norwich, are comfortable sitting back when they need to, as was evident at Elland Road.

City spent nearly 15 minutes there in constant possession, pinning their hosts back without creating any real chances. They'll need to be careful not to be lulled into the same false sense of security this time around.

Another key ingredient in the play-off final recipe, unfortunately, is luck. It's often impossible to get beyond the last four without some, and they face a team that finished 17 points ahead of them.

The right strategy goes a long way, however, and achieving that may just be a little bit easier with two games already under their belts in the last eight months.