‘Must win’ is a term overused in football and one that has been thrown about a lot over the past month or so in relation to Leeds United FC. Leeds United seldom take note of these occasions however and have developed a tendency to do things the hard way.

Gillingham away last week was a good example of Leeds United ignoring the ‘must win’ game scenario. A win was the only way to guarantee we’d remain second, and failure to do so would make the home visit of MK Dons and trip to the Valley look a little more complicated than was perhaps necessary.

As it turned out, Leeds United remained second anyway, thanks to the unpredictable nature of League One which left everyone else failing to capitalise on our failings. It really does seem that no matter how hard we try to mess it all up, the other teams are doing that little bit better at it. Not a bad thing, granted, but with another ‘must win’ game at Elland Road tomorrow, Leeds really do need to be at their best.

On paper, you could argue that Leeds United have the toughest fixture of those fighting for automatic promotion when taking relative league positions into account. Take the situational positions into account however, and Leeds probably have the best one – with the possible exception of Millwall who host an almost safe Leyton Orient (I’m also ignoring Huddersfield. Although mathematically possible, it’s highly unlikely).

The other two teams in the hunt, namely Charlton and Swindon both travel away to teams deep in the relegation battle. Swindon travel to Wycombe, who are five points from safety but unlikely to give up until the maths rules consolidation out and Charlton head to Exeter who could just about secure their place in League One with a win. Another weekend of movement at the top seems inevitable.

The game Leeds United fans should really be keeping an eye on this weekend is definitely Charlton. If Leeds lose at Elland Road tomorrow and Charlton win in Exeter, they’ll move level on points with Leeds with everything on the line next weekend. However, if Charlton lose and Leeds United win, that would leave Charlton six points behind Leeds United next weekend with two games left and a vastly inferior goal difference. In other words, Charlton would have very little left to play for and would simply be waiting for the play-offs to get under way.

Leeds fans have a lot to be optimistic about ahead of the game. MK Dons are a team that have never won at Elland Road, and overall, Leeds United have a very good record against them. The Dons have also been struggling for form over the last couple of months and failed to win any of their last eight fixtures. With absolutely nothing left to play for, Milton Keynes seem happy to draw a line under the 2009-10 season and look ahead to next season.