Leeds United’s recent struggles have increased the worries of relegation amongst the fanbase at Elland Road.
Following the defeat to Manchester United, the Whites now face Liverpool and Tottenham in arguably their toughest pair of games left this season.
They will be hoping to come through those two matches unscathed before facing a trio of fixtures that they have a real chance of accumulating some points from.
A trip to face struggling Leicester is succeeded by very winnable home games against Aston Villa and Norwich.
Currently holding a five-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone, Leeds must ensure they improve their recent record against the teams around them in the table.
In order to do that, their home form must significantly improve as Marcelo Bielsa’s side are currently 17th in the Premier League home table.
Home results will go a long way towards determining what position the Whites finish the season in and making use of the brilliant support at Elland Road is essential if Leeds want to stay in the top flight.
For that reason, we have analysed the home schedules of each of the teams around the bottom to put an alternative spin on the relegation fight in the Premier League.
From a Leeds perspective, the above table might make for slightly worrying reading with a number of tough opponents still due to visit West Yorkshire before the end of the season.
But when that is further broken down, the clashes against Manchester City and Chelsea seem to skew the results as the rest of the home fixtures will be perceived by Bielsa as winnable.
In order of their visits, Leeds’ opponents at Elland Road for the rest of the season are as follows:
· Tottenham – February 26
· Aston Villa – March 10
· Norwich – March 13
· Southampton – April 2
· Chelsea – April 16
· Manchester City – April 30
· Brighton – May 15
The four-day period in which Aston Villa and Norwich are the visitors to Elland Road could go some way to defining Leeds’ season.
A couple of wins would put Bielsa’s side in a commanding position to secure survival whilst defeats or draws, especially against the Canaries, could prove fatal.
According to the table, Everton will be most confident of staying in the Premier League based on their form at Goodison Park but they have picked up fewer points away from home than every other team in the division.
That has been shown perfectly in Frank Lampard’s brief time as the club’s manager as they have won both of their home games under his stewardship and lost both on the road.
As for the other teams, each of those currently occupying the relegation places will have to show vast improvements to their home performances if they are to beat the drop.
Watford, Norwich and Burnley have the worst home points per game tallies in the league and should that continue, they are likely to fail in their bid to escape the grips of the bottom three.
However, if they are able to improve between now and the end of the season, Leeds will also have to be better at home over the next few months.
Regardless of results elsewhere, the supporters at Elland Road will be doing everything they can to inspire their team into the strongest end to the season possible.
