Pressure on Leeds for play-offs, says Stacey

Norwich City defender Jack Stacey believes the "balance of pressure" will be on Leeds United when the two sides meet in the Championship play-offs.

The Canaries finished sixth in the table following Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Birmingham and lost both games against third-placed Leeds during the season.

But the Yorkshire club, managed by former Canaries boss Daniel Farke, were beaten themselves, going down 2-1 against Southampton.

Norwich will be at home for the first leg on 12 May, before travelling to Elland Road four days later.

"Our aim from a long time ago was to try and get into the play-offs and when you look at some of the situations we've been in this season, we have to look at that as the first success along the journey," Stacey told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"From where we came from to get to this position, we came through a really good period of form, so we have to remember the performances we've given at home and take that forwards with us."

Leeds, who were relegated from the top flight last season, 12 months after Norwich, won 3-2 at Carrow Road in October after twice coming from behind, and then won with a single Patrick Bamford goal in the return match in January.

Stacey said: "They are definitely one of the best teams we've played but if you look at the two games against them, there wasn't too much in it.

"Leeds have been going for automatic promotion for a long time so in terms of the balance of pressure, it's mostly towards them - and we can relish that.

"Hopefully, the experience we have (in the squad), we'll be able to deal with the atmosphere and the occasion and use it to drive us forward."

The winners of the semi-final will play either Southampton or West Brom in the final on 26 May.

And Stacey is hoping to put past play-off disappointments behind him and help Norwich achieve a third promotion to the Premier League in 10 seasons.

He was in the Exeter side which lost 2-1 to Blackpool in the 2017 League Two final and played for Bournemouth when they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Brentford in the 2021 Championship play-offs after winning the first leg.

He added: "There's a probably a lot of stories like that in the squad. As a personal thing, I need to change that record."