Daniel Farke’s team risk dropping into the Championship as Spurs Forest look to seize advantage
Leeds should have joined Sunderland and been well clear of relegation by now, but a trail of frustrating draws means there is now heavy tension at Elland Road as Daniel Farke’s side descend fully into the muddy contest including Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and West Ham.
On Saturday night at home, Leeds and Brentford cancelled each other out in a game that was no advert for Premier League entertainment. There were basically 90 minutes where nothing happened, 22 men doing warm-ups with a 36,386 crowd watching.
Leeds have now drawn five of their last nine games. They have gone six league games without a win and four in a row without scoring. They remain 15th in the league but are now only three points ahead of Tottenham in 16th, four ahead of Forest in 17th.
Spurs and Forest face each other in a battle for the drop on Sunday and if Spurs were to win, they would leapfrog Leeds and massively boost their own chances of survival. Then it would be Leeds contending with Forest as West Ham threaten survival at the expense of one of them.
It is deflating after impressive results and performances against Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool this season gave fans hope that they could be among the two promoted sides to avoid going straight back down this season.
Leeds controlled the game reasonably well at home against European contenders Brentford but they found the Bees’ compact shape difficult to break down. Chances were lacking for both sides and besides a looping effort from Dominic Calvert-Lewin cleared by Michael Kayode, and Lukas Nmecha forcing Caoimhin Kelleher into a low save before the break, there was barely any moment of note.
Goals have simply been hard to come by for Farke’s side. Meanwhile, Tottenham will be encouraged by their performance against Liverpool and Atletico Madrid over the past week, and Forest will be buoyed by their success against Midtjylland.
Farke is not worried though. “I am not alarmed,” Leeds’s boss said. “A relegation battle is a battle. It is not like an easy cruise to the promised land. I expected a tough, tough season where we have to fight to the end in order to keep our chances. We are right now at 33 points, which is quite good.”
