'We fancy ourselves against a lot of Premier League teams' - but Leeds United captain Liam Cooper admits unfamiliar scenario is likely

For two seasons under Marcelo Bielsa, Cooper has known only the upper echelons of a table and unless Leeds can pull of a footballing miracle, they will have to grow accustomed to existing a lot lower down the Premier League than the top-two berth they made their own in the Championship.

Promotion seals a return to the top flight for Cooper, where it all began almost 11 years ago for him, as an 18-year-old defender.

His first taste of Premier League action, in his first start, came at Anfield where Hull City were handed a 6-1 beating.

Fernando Torres scored three, Ryan Babel two and Steven Gerrard one, as the Reds ran riot.

Cooper didn’t play for Hull again that season until he came off the bench against Arsenal in a 2-1 defeat in March.

Two months later Hull were relegated and Cooper has spent over a decade fighting his way back up.

Now, club captain of his boyhood club and 28 years of age, Cooper is old enough and wise enough not to make any bold predictions about Leeds’ first season back in the Premier League for 16 years.

But he’s not suggesting the Whites will be happy just to make up the numbers, either, especially having grown used to the feeling of winning.

“From a team that finished 13th the season before [Bielsa] came in to being in the top two for almost two years is some going in the Championship, it’s a tough league,” he said on the Scottish Football Podcast.

“We’re looking forward to what the future holds.