Leeds United did their hopes of Premier League survival no favours as they were comfortably beaten by Aston Villa at Elland Road.
Goals from Phillipe Coutinho, Matty Cash and Calum Chambers made it eight games without a win for the Whites who have been dragged into the mire at the bottom of the table.
The gap to the relegation zone remains two points but Burnley and Everton in the places directly below have two and three games in hand respectively.
It makes the clash with Norwich at Elland Road even more important on Sunday as anything less than victory will be unacceptable.
It is a game that Jesse Marsch compared to a cup final after the Villa defeat and three points are more essential than they have ever been.
Luckily for Leeds, the Canaries also were also dealt a blow in their fight for survival this evening as they were beaten 3-1 by Chelsea at Carrow Road.
They are four points adrift of safety which is bizarre in itself given they have only won four games all season.
The team above Norwich were also on the end of a heavy defeat tonight as Watford, who are two points from safety themselves, were hammered 4-0 by Wolves at Molineux.
On a thoroughly dire evening on the pitch, Leeds will have to take the positives from those two results elsewhere as both Norwich and Watford are showing no signs of going above them in the table.
In one of the other games on the night, Newcastle were able to continue their brilliant run of form which has given them a 10-point cushion to the bottom three.
A 2-1 win away at Southampton made it eight games unbeaten for the Magpies who have thoroughly turned their fortunes around.
That victory at St Mary’s may well have all-but secured their Premier League status with a few of the sides below them badly struggling for form.
For Leeds, it is now a matter of ensuring one of Burnley or Everton are not able to go above them in the table but it is out of their hands with those two having games in hand.
The visit of Norwich on Sunday is now, by far, the Whites’ biggest game since returning to the Premier League.
It is hard to imagine that anything less than a win will suffice against the division’s worst team.
The bottom seven now looks like this:
14th Newcastle - Played 27, points 31
15th Brentford - Played 28, points 27
16th Leeds United - Played 28, points 23
17th Everton - Played 25, points 22
18th Burnley - Played 26, points 21
19th Watford - Played 28, points 19
20th Norwich - Played 28, points 17
Be sure to follow Leeds Live’s coverage of Sunday's game as Leeds look to put vital breathing room between themselves and the drop zone.
