The Premier League relegation battle took another twist this weekend as Leeds United moved into the bottom three. Leeds were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday and dropped to 18th place as a result of Everton’s win at Leicester City.
The Whites remain level on 34 points with Burnley, whose good run of form came to an end with a 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa. Mike Jackson’s side are ahead of Leeds thanks to their far superior goal difference and so in the final three games of the season, will only have to match their points total to ensure they finish above them.
It is a quick turnaround for both Leeds and Everton this week, as they face Chelsea and Watford respectively on Wednesday night. The Toffees will see that as a huge opportunity to all but guarantee their safety, given that Watford are now already relegated.
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Following this weekend’s round of matches, here is a round-up of what Jesse Marsch, Frank Lampard and Jackson had to say on the battle to beat the drop.
Marsch: ‘I believe’
Leeds boss Marsch remains confident his side will have enough to stay up. He said: “Yeah, I do. I do believe that. And I knew going into these three matches against City again, Arsenal, against Chelsea, that picking up points was going to be incredibly difficult.
“I knew that we still could manage to find some points. Right now, if we beat Chelsea I would walk away from the three matches and go if you asked me before three points from the three matches I would say ok, that's ok. That'll help us.
“So right now obviously we failed the first two tests and we have another massive test Wednesday night against a team that has a little more rest than us and we've just got to turn around, find a way to stay strong, put a group on the pitch that's going to do whatever it takes like they did in the second half and find a way to get our points. That's the only focus right now.”
Lampard: ‘By no means safe’
Everton now look in an excellent position to stay up, but Lampard is keen to ensure his players remain grounded. He said: “That’s my biggest job now. The players as well to understand that we should enjoy results like that, because they’re huge and that’s what we’re in football for - ups and downs at times.
“But by the time we get home tonight, we have to move our minds onto Watford and the games that are coming. We’re by no means safe, far from being safe at the moment and that’s in our hands. We have to get straight back to earth and focus on Wednesday.”
Jackson: ‘The league didn’t finish today’
Burnley interim boss Jackson is keen to try keep confidence levels up in his squad. He said: “You need it all the time in football, you can’t win every game and how can we react, respond and come together.
“This group has done that before and we have a bit of time now to look where we could be better and how we can improve and we focus everything now on the three games we have to go. The league didn’t finish today.”
