Leeds United will approach tonight’s clash with West Ham United with a degree of momentum behind them. That’s according to Jesse Marsch, who hopes the success Leeds saw in holding Champions League chasers Newcastle United to a 0-0 draw on New Year’s Eve can push them on to picking up their first three-point haul of the new year.
There’s little to choose between Leeds and West Ham at present, with Leeds sitting just two points above David Moyes’ side, who have picked up just one win on the road all season. Most bookmakers have struggled to separate the pair leading into the contest and although the Whites are seen as favourites by the slimmest of margins, both are being predicted by many to struggle over the second half of the season.
As such, the significance of picking up three points against the east Londoners cannot be underestimated for Leeds as they look to pile misery on a direct rival and pull away from the Premier League drop zone and Marsch is keen to see his Whites build on their disciplined performance in the North East last time out.
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“The most important thing is the feeling of the success after the emphasis on defending,” Marsch said in his pre-match press conference. “Getting the clean sheet is a really good feeling for us, even if we had to fight for it tooth and nail down the stretch. So that part yes, I agree it builds momentum.”
He added: “Obviously you look at the table, you say West Ham is a competitor for where we are, we're playing at home, we want to find a way to get a result. But I just feel like this every week.
"Obviously Man City, you play some opponents in there, they're the giants, but it's just every week, every game. For where we are as a team and as a club every game feels like a final.
"I think West Ham was hard done in the game against Brentford. We watched that match. They defend well, they counter well, which will be a challenge for us, but we're going to come up with a good match plan and we're going to go after the match.
“I think it's about just staying focused in the moment. Someone said to me before after we beat Chelsea, it looked like we had a run of matches that we could call somewhat winnable, if there is such a thing for us, but then we didn't win until Liverpool.
"So I think we're all still learning that we have to just stay laser focused in on every moment in every match and make sure that we are prepared to be at our best. If we do that, then we'd like the team that we can become.”
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