Losing on Saturday would be a new low for Leeds United this season.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side go in search of a second Premier League win with a trip to bottom-of-the-table Norwich City.
The newly-promoted Canaries haven’t beaten anybody since returning to the top flight, losing seven and drawing two.
And yet, City are only three places and five points below 17th-placed Leeds in the Premier League standings.
This is something of a relegation six-pointer whether fans of the Elland Road club admit to it or not.
And Paul Merson has predicted that actually, Norwich are going to win and believes the potential absence of Raphinha is a ‘massive blow’.
He told Sportskeeda: “Leeds are a funny team. They went to Southampton and didn’t have a shot on target, and they needed a last-minute penalty against Wolves to scrap their way to a draw. Raphinha’s injury also comes as a massive blow to them. It’s a good time to play against Leeds, and Norwich could pull off a surprise this weekend.”
Scary
If Merson is right and United do lose, it’ll frighten quite a lot of Leeds fans.
That’s because Bielsa’s side could slip into the bottom three this weekend and if that doesn’t highlight that the Whites are in a relegation battle, nothing will.
It’s been a pretty shocking start to the season for the West Yorkshire – more in terms of surprise, not so much ‘shocking’ in regards to quality.
The reason why this form is so unexpected is because Leeds more than held their own against the Premier League’s best last season and even won at Manchester City despite having 10 men.
To go from that to this is quite a steep decline and Bielsa needs to figure it out – and fast.
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