A few weeks ago, Leeds United seemed to have made themselves practically safe as they beat Watford to move to 33 points, whilst Burnley lost to Norwich City and looked to be going backwards rather than looking like they could catch the Whites. Since then, the Clarets sacked Sean Dyche and managed to win their two games in had over Leeds, moving them to within two points of Jesse Marsch's side before a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace increased the gap to three.
Meanwhile, Everton also played a game-in-hand against Leicester City, managing a 1-1 draw and cutting the gap between Leeds and the Toffees to five points. Frank Lampard's side still hold another game-in-hand over Leeds, meaning they could close the gap further. Leeds hold the advantage of having the most points of the three sides, but clearly they are still part of the relegation battle after all.
The final run-in will be crucial in deciding Leeds' fate. Here are the three clubs' remaining fixtures:
Leeds: Manchester City (H), Arsenal (A), Chelsea (H), Brighton (H), Brentford (A)
Burnley: Watford (A), Aston Villa (H), Tottenham (A), Aston Villa (A), Newcastle (A)
Everton: Chelsea (H), Leicester City (H), Watford (A), Brentford (H), Crystal Palace (H), Arsenal (A)
Read more: Leeds United warning for crunch 12 days as relegation fight threatens to tighten up
Notably, both Leeds' rivals have games against Watford, where they will surely be banking on three points. Given that Leeds will struggle to pick up points in their next three games against Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, the games against Watford provide opportunities to both sides to close the gap or even overtake the Whites.
With that being the case, Marsch's side will know that they can't write off their first three matches. A draw in one or even an unlikely win could ease the pressure enormously. At the same time, should either of Burnley or Everton fail to beat Watford, they will struggle to close the gap on Leeds.
Burnley's fixtures are the kindest, with Tottenham their only top six opponent, whilst Leeds have three and Everton two. How Aston Villa fare against the Clarets could be crucial, as Steven Gerrard's side have been on poor form but they will want to finish the season strongly. In a strange turn of events, they play Burnley twice in the final five fixtures, due to earlier Covid cancellations. As well as that, Everton have an advantage in four of their fixtures being at Goodison Park.
Should Leeds pick up no points in their next three, whilst Burnley, Everton or both close the gap, the pressure could be on the Whites in their final fixtures against Brighton and Brentford. Were that to be the case, Leeds would hope to be able to better their recent records against the two sides. They have beaten Brighton only once in their last ten attempts, whilst they have not beaten Brentford in an away match since 1950. Four more points is likely to be enough for Leeds but the sooner they can get those, the better.
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