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Firmly in Championship play-off contention, if not the title race outright, and with another huge FA Cup tie to look forward to this weekend - these are good times to be a Leeds United fan. James Appell, podcast regular and guest author, knows better than most.

Six and a half years on from relegation from the Premier League, four and a half after dropping into English football’s third tier for the first time in their history, Leeds are suddenly looking forward to mixing it with the big boys. They can get some practice in on Saturday lunchtime with a visit to the Emirates to take on Arsenal in the FA Cup Third Round.

So is it time for Leeds to start partying like it’s 1999, a year in which they topped the Premier League at Christmas?

Well, if points were given out for entertainment Leeds would already have been promoted. If you want to see goals Elland Road has been the place to be this season. They have scored 46 goals in their 26 league games, more than any other side of the 92, and the games they have been involved in have yielded 89 goals in total, again more than any other side.

Their goals for column is all the more impressive given that they lost their top goalscorer of recent seasons, Jermaine Beckford, to Everton over the summer. But in actual fact, it can be argued that Beckford’s departure, to a substantial degree, explains the goal count at both ends of the pitch for Leeds.

There was a lot of fuss earlier this season when Craig Levein got his Scotland team playing with no strikers in a 4-6-0 formation.

Strangely, what yielded so little in the way of attacking play for the Scots is not all that far removed from Simon Grayson’s philosophy at Leeds. Since Beckford’s departure, Grayson has at times fielded an XI without an orthodox holding midfield player, and instead gone for three attack-minded central midfielders, two winger-forwards and a single striker - a 4-0-6, if you like.

That has seen Leeds create countless chances. Luciano Becchio, an out-and-out striker, leads the way with 13 goals this season. But others have chipped in; wingers Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass have eight and four respectively, while both Bradley Johnson and Jonny Howson - supposedly the deepest-lying midfielders - have four apiece.

But the glut of attacking talents have left Leeds’s defence exposed. Admittedly Grayson hasn’t helped matters by continually rotating his defenders, with six centre halves have been employed already this year. And the abilities of some of them to prosper at Championship level have been severely tested. Some, such as club captain Richard Naylor, who has been missing since October, appear to have failed.

Still, though the side’s attacking instincts are proving a mixed blessing, a leaky defence doesn’t always count against teams aiming for promotion. Seven sides had equal or better defensive records than both Wolves and Stoke, who were automatically promoted in 2008, while last season Blackpool had only the tenth best defensive record in the Championship (and we all know how that has turned out…so far).

But Leeds need to find greater balance between attack and defence if they are to prosper this season. When Andy O’Brien is generally recognised as your side’s best defender you know you have problems. The others - Neill Collins, Alex Bruce, Leigh Bromby and Naylor - struggle in the Championship, never mind the Premier League. And last season’s star centre back, Patrick Kisnorbo, is yet to appear this season because of an Achilles injury. Having previously suffered a long-term knee injury at previous club Leicester, Kisnorbo’s fitness must surely be in question.

Should they go up, however, they have the goalscoring prowess to really cause some problems. They’ll have the chance to put that to the test at the Emirates on Saturday, a game which will go some way towards measuring Leeds’s Premier League credentials.

Tags: Leeds United, Simon Grayson