Bring It On

When the fixtures for Leeds United’s return to the Premier League were released last August, in addition to an eyebrow raising opening day visit to Anfield, a horrendous looking run of fixtures at the business end of the table in April also jumped straight from the page. 

There of course was no knowing what to expect after a sixteen year absence from the top flight, or what position Leeds would be in at this stage. I personally saw these upcoming run of the league’s heavyweights back to back to back as a cause of concern. If your fighting to get to that coveted 40 point mark with only a handful of games left to play then the two Manchester clubs and the champions Liverpool were the last teams you would want to be facing. 

However with United’s derby day win over Sheffield United last weekend, they moved onto 42 points and have next to no chance of being involved in an end of season relegation scrap, something we have known for some time in all honesty. Instead a top half finish in our first season back looks more than attainable and perhaps puts us in a perfect position to topple one of big hitters and earn a famous result in the coming fortnight.

So far this season only Leeds and Newcastle United have failed to upset one of the “big six” in the Premier League so you could say a big win is overdue for the Whites first season back or not. We’ve already seen some stunnung results this season with Burnley, Brighton and Fulham all leaving Anfield victorious, Sheffield United even won a game of football at Old Trafford and most recently we saw West Brom batter Chelsea 5-2 at Stamford Bridge. Regardless all of those lowly teams would kill to swap league positions with Leeds but we now have three chances in 15 days to record a memorable victory for the Elland Road scrapbooks. 

We’ve had somewhat of a mixed bag agaisnt the giants of the league so far. A stunning performance on the opening day against Liverpool almost earnt a point at a time when three away points weren’t common currency at Anfield. Another breathless performance did earn a point against a star studded Man City a few weeks later but our trip to face the old enemy at Old Trafford over Christmas is better left forgotten. 

Starting with Saturday's trip to Manchester City and it can go one of two ways for me. Leeds were only slightly wounded by an early onslaught by City in the opening twenty minutes to be only a single goal behind before they found their feet and met Guardioula's men punch for punch and were more than worth their point in the end. We've seen our gung-ho expansive style of play at it's most beautiful many times under Bielsa but we have also seen its vulnerabilities such as at Old Trafford and the Emirates. For me, we could be in for another exciting end to end match which is anyones game or if were not careful City could put us to the sword. They do it to most teams.

But the two real chances of a big win come next week at Elland Road when we entertain Liverpool and those lot accross the Pennines. Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea have all visited Elland Road only to meet spirited Leeds perfomances and each game ending a draw. You could argue that Leeds deserved to win all three.

When the fixtures came out in August, and with the unpredictable nature of the Coronavirus pandemic, many of us hoped we may of all been back in to get behind the boys. Imagine the roar when Kalvin Phillips sends Paul Pogba flying into the East Stand, alike only to the colleseum when two gladiators go to battle. I still feel that with a full house of Leeds United fans that we would of beaten both City and Arsenal in the second half of each game. But as painful as it is watching from home, Elland Road still holds that aura of a place angels dare to tread. It is somewhat comforting that their pampered stars will have to get changed in the rickety old West Stand concourse and have to play on our ice rink of a pitch.

You could say we owe Liverpool one for our valiant defeat back in September. We definetly owe one to Manchester United.

I'm not alone in seeing these three games as a chance of an almighty result. The usually conservative in his building up of games Marcelo Bielsa is even in on the act. In his pre-match press conference on Thursday he alluded that "it is our objective to modify this" in relation to Leeds's record against the top six aswell as another of his beautiful quotations on the romance of football.

"Football is full of surprises, and there's nothing nicer for a spectator than to see something they didn't expect. To say the opposite is when you know exactly what is going to happen, but eventually this will cause boredom".

Another beautiful quote was from James Baldwin who stated that "The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose". Leeds are safe, and confident and with a bit of form under their belts. We have nothing to lose, and with that in mind I'm now looking to these games with immense excitement rather than dread. Come on Leeds!

By Lawrence O'Sullivan