Leeds United face another massive weekend in the fight for Premier League survival when they travel to the Emirates to take on Arsenal. The Whites are just two points above Everton, who have a game in hand, after last weekend’s defeat to Manchester City was compounded by wins for both the Toffees and Burnley.
Sunday sees Jesse Marsch’s side take a trip down south to take on an Arsenal team fighting for Champions League football. They are just two points above Tottenham with four games left to play - including a North London Derby.
But former West Ham and Norwich City striker Dean Ashton has pinpointed key moments in last weekend’s miserable weekend that put Leeds in ‘big trouble’.
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“If you look historically at Arsenal at home against what you would class as so-called ‘weaker teams’,” Ashton told TalkSport’s GameDay podcast . “They’ve always seemed to just brush them aside and Leeds haven’t beaten Arsenal in the last eight games either.
“But I think these injuries are so key. Cooper and Dallas - who you would say are two of their best defensive players - to lose them when they just looked like defensively they were getting somewhere - a couple of clean sheets against Palace and what and then all of a sudden.
“Four goals against City is not a disaster, that's 1-0 against most teams, but it’s these injuries I think are key to Leeds and they’re in massive trouble.”
The Whites were five games unbeaten before last weekend’s defeat, but a strong run of results for both of their relegation rivals has dragged them further into the dogfight. And Ashton said they need to look at Frank Lampard’s side, who picked up the kind of result needed when fighting for your life.
“They’re in big trouble.” he added. “They are in massive, massive trouble. Again I talk about that game that Everton had against Chelsea, this is the time of the season when you have to produce a result that is not expected. This might have to be one.”
A win against the odds at Arsenal could pull Leeds as far as five points clear of the drop - dependent on results elsewhere - and give them momentum going into the final three games.
