Michael Owen thinks it was a ‘horrific’ day for Leeds United on Monday in the Premier League after a number of their relegation rivals picked up maximum points.
It was a 21-goal bonanza with Sean Dyche’s Everton remarkably hitting Champions League-chasing Brighton for five and Nottingham Forest seeing off bottom-of-the-table Southampton with a nervous 4-3 win.
Perhaps the only consolation for Sam Allardyce was that Leicester City were beaten 5-3 at Fulham – at one point, they were 5-1 down.
As of this moment, it’s Leeds and Leicester joining the Saints in England’s second-tier next season.
What is worse for the Whites is that they are sat in 19th place on 30 points, level with the Foxes, two points adrift of Everton and three away from Forest, but only those from the Midlands have a worse goal difference to them.
That could be very crucial when the final ball is kicked at the end of May, with Owen highlighting how it was a day to forget for Leeds, even though they didn’t play, as he told Premier League Productions (08/05/23 at 10:20 pm).
“Not a good day at all for Leeds or Leicester, horrific,” said Owen. “I look at those fixtures and points on the board are so important. They aren’t going to be many points, I feel, won out of those sets of fixtures.
“There are a lot of tough run-ins now. Only three games to go – the next two games for all the teams. I can hardly see any points.
“But the last game, for all of them, are probably where the points will be. It could be an absolute grandstand finish.”
LEEDS COULD ALREADY BE DOWN
In the crazy world that is the Premier League, if Leeds were to only get two points from their next three matches, then they are already down and out.
Given that it will be Allardyce’s first home game in charge and it’s in front of the Elland Road faithful, then Leeds need to get something against Newcastle United on Saturday.
The only problem here is that Eddie Howe’s side are the third-best team in the league and the Champions League-chasing side are coming off the back of a defeat.
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