It is imperative that Leeds United find a handful of points from somewhere in their last four games if they want to be playing Premier League football again next season. Their next two matches, against Arsenal and Chelsea, are likely to prove very difficult but clashes with Brighton and Brentford may provide respite.
The form of their two main relegation rivals, Burnley in particular, has made a difficult task much tougher and the Whites are now just two points outside the relegation zone. A haul of 11 points in Jesse Marsch’s eight games in charge certainly isn’t a bad tally but the American inherited a squad that was already on a downward spiral.
Former Leeds defender Danny Mills believes the Manchester City defeat needs to be taken with a pinch of salt following a decent run of results otherwise. He told the rest of the panel on Sky Sports News’ ‘The Football Show’: “This is not really down to Jesse Marsch because he’s actually had a really good effect since he’s come in, in terms of results.
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“People will look at the Manchester City game and okay, it’s a 4-0 loss but that’s happened to numerous clubs this season. That’s never really a game that you’d expect to win especially with City pushing for the title.
“But tough games that are coming, Arsenal who are pushing for the top four, Chelsea after the defeats they’ve had recently, nothing much really to play for apart from staying in the top four. Obviously they’ve got a cup final coming up but they will want to be in third position and cement that.
“Brentford last game of the season, Brighton is never going to be easy with the way the way that they’re playing so they’ve just got to keep fighting. This is going to come down to two or three results.”
Mills believes Leeds are still undoing some of the damage that was seen towards the back end of Bielsa’s tenure. But, with four games left, there is still plenty of time for them to do enough to stay in the Premier League.
“It just didn’t happen for Marcelo Bielsa this season,” he claimed. “People will look back - Leeds fans especially - saying they shouldn’t have got rid of Marcelo Bielsa.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I’m pretty sure most [Burnley] fans thought at the time ‘don’t get rid of Sean Dyche’ and now look what’s happened with them, but they could still go down. Four or five games is an awful lot, that’s a lot of points to play for, there will be twists, there will be drama between now and the end of the season.”
Twelve points are still on the table for Leeds and a positive result or two against Arsenal and Chelsea will put all the pressure back onto Burnley and Everton. Equally, two more defeats against the London clubs could leave Marsch’s side with it all to do in the last couple of games.
