After picking up two wins in a row for the first time all season when Leeds United surprisingly defeated West Ham in London in late January, it came as a surprise that they followed that with only one point from their next three fixtures.
When considering that these fixtures were against Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Everton, it becomes even more concerning and where the Whites looked like pulling away from relegation trouble after the West Ham win, they now find themselves looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone again.
They now face a tough run of fixtures against Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in the space of just seven days. Following that they face an away match against Leicester City a week later.
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After that game, their next fixture was set to be a crunch match against Norwich City - the side currently in 18th place in the Premier League table - but a rearrangement of a December fixture that Leeds were forced to cancel due to Covid cases means Dean Smith's side will now have an advantage over Marcelo Bielsa's.
That's because Leeds will now face Aston Villa just three days before hosting the Canaries at Elland Road, whilst Norwich have a week between facing Brentford and Leeds.
Whilst Leeds have a very difficult run ahead, Norwich have matches against Liverpool both in the Premier League and the FA Cup but they also face Southampton and Brentford before the crunch Leeds match and will be targeting some points in those games in order to close the gap on Bielsa's side.
Leeds currently have a six point gap and a goal difference which is significantly superior to their rivals but with the quality of opponents coming up, it's possible that the gap and goal difference could be reduced, making this particular one a vital one.
Leeds came out on top at Carrow Road the last time the two sides faced one another, with goals from Raphinha and Rodrigo giving them a 2-1 win.
However, the match was a tightly fought affair and Leeds fans certainly won't be happy to see their opponents given the advantage of being more refreshed before a came with such potential importance.
If Leeds can pick up any points in these next games preceding the Norwich fixture, they will reduce some of the pressure which will mount otherwise.
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