Pundit and Manchester United legend Gary Neville has shared his fears for Leeds United as they battle against relegation from the Premier League.
Leeds were in action on Sunday afternoon and fell to a 2-1 defeat at away at Arsenal.
The first half was an absolute disaster. Illan Meslier gifted Eddie Nketiah the opening goal before the former Leeds loanee added a second.
Luke Ayling then picked up a red card with a ridiculous challenge on Gabriel Martinelli as Leeds threatened to implode.
Diego Llorente pulled one back though and Leeds gave it a real good go as their 10 men fell short against the Champions League-chasing Gunners.
Few would have expected Leeds to win at the Emirates Stadium, but the defeat was compounded by Everton winning at Leicester City.
Everton’s 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium means that have moved up to 16th in the Premier League table.
Leeds have dropped into the bottom three and Everton still have a game in hand on the Whites.
Burnley have improved of late too, meaning Leeds are in real danger of slipping back into the Championship.
Jesse Marsch needs to pull some points out from somewhere and Wednesday’s game against Chelsea looks huge.
The Blues have an FA Cup final clash with Liverpool coming up next weekend and some may hope that Chelsea rest players to focus on that game.
Brighton and Brentford come up for Leeds after facing Chelsea and they need to pick up at least one win from somewhere.
Pundit Neville has now spoken on his own podcast about Leeds and it’s clear that he really fears for the Whites.
Neville suggests Leeds going down is ‘happening before our eyes’, partly because of their own form as well as Everton picking up two wins in a row.
Neville added that Chelsea on Wednesday won’t be easy for Leeds even if their FA Cup commitments may help.
The former England ace added that he fears ‘enormously’ for Leeds and makes them favourites to go down.
“They do have that feeling of a club that definitely could go down, it’s happening before our eyes,” said Neville. “Everton are winning, there are going to be twists and turns. It’s going to be a slugfest this last couple of weeks, it really is. All of them are on the floor and they’re just trying to get up and are trying to throw a punch, it’s that kind of world they’re in.”
“It must help Leeds that Chelsea are in a cup final a few days later, it must help Leeds that Chelsea have dipped off their levels, but Tuchel doesn’t strike me as the type of manager that’s going to throw a game away. He will want good momentum going into that final, so I don’t buy into this idea that all of a sudden it’s just going to become something of a cakewalk for them.”
“I really do fear for Leeds, I fear for them enormously. At this moment in time, I would say they’re favourites to go down. Everything that could go wrong – Dallas, Ayling, the spirit and the energy of the club is not there, they’re massive players. What Ayling has done today will cost them,” he added.
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