Allardyce takes his automatic promotion challengers to Elland Road tomorrow, knowing veteran boss Warnock has added a more ruthless edge to the Yorkshire side since taking charge last month.

Leeds have suffered just one npower Championship defeat in five games - to leaders Southampton - since the former QPR manager came in as successor to Simon Grayson.

And if any team is to string together an unbeaten run and charge into the top six, as Reading have done recently, climbing to second place, Allardyce has no doubt that could be Leeds.

Allardyce said: "There is every chance yes, especially with the experienced Neil Warnock as manager now.

"Neil has seen and done it all and knows what a team needs to go on a run like Reading's and he will be looking to do that with Leeds having won his first game on Sunday at Middlesbrough."

Warnock also gave Leeds a rallying team talk which inspired them to beat Doncaster on the day he was appointed, when Neil Redfearn took charge of the team, and has overseen draws with Portsmouth and Hull.

A home win over West Ham could be a real spur for Leeds, who stand four points adrift of sixth-placed Hull with 10 rounds of games remaining, and Allardyce suspects Warnock will want to show his previous employers what they are missing out on.

"He will have been really disappointed not to have had a longer spell at QPR to get them right in the Premier League but he is at a fantastic club now where he can aim for yet another promotion," Allardyce said, according to West Ham's official website.

"It will be a very interesting game on Saturday as he has sorted out Leeds' main problem of conceding silly goals. Neil has put those defensive errors right and it makes Leeds that much more difficult to beat. Let's hope we can achieve that on Saturday."

West Ham have not lost since January but two home draws in a row against Watford and Doncaster have knocked them down to third place, albeit with a game in hand on Southampton and Reading which would allow them to regain a top-two place.

Both Southampton and Reading also travel away tomorrow, with Nigel Adkins taking his Saints side to Millwall, and Brian McDermott taking the in-form Royals to Barnsley.

Another Yorkshire side, Doncaster, halted Reading's eight-match winning run on Tuesday. Reading have been strengthened for their trip to Oakwell by the loan signing of Hayden Mullins from Portsmouth.

Birmingham stand eighth but will overtake Middlesbrough, currently fourth, should they beat Tony Mowbray's side at St Andrew's, while fifth-placed Brighton head to Blackpool and sixth-placed Hull travel to take on Crystal Palace.

Bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth tackle 21st-placed Bristol City at Fratton Park, while Coventry and Doncaster, both also in the bottom three, have assignments against Watford and Derby.

Ipswich face Peterborough in a clash between two sides lodged in lower mid-table, while Sunday sees Cardiff, nudged out of the play-off places after a 3-0 home defeat to Hull on Tuesday, face Burnley in the Welsh capital.