'Surely' - Alan Shearer pinpoints what will decide Leeds United's Premier League relegation battle fate
Leeds United took a big step towards Premier League safety following Friday's win against Nottingham Forest.
Alan Shearer expects Leeds United’s home form to keep them in the Premier League following Friday’s 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
Leeds got the better of their relegation rivals in a huge game to kick off the weekend with goals from Jayden Bogle, Noah Okafor and Dominic Calvert-Lewin rounding off a commanding performance. The victory opened up a three-point gap on Forest and for a few hours, sent the Whites nine clear of the bottom three.
West Ham closed that gap back to six points with a 2-0 win at Burnley, but Friday’s result at Elland Road also pulled Leeds level on points with Tottenham Hotspur to drag them right into the relegation battle. Crystal Palace won 1-0 at Brighton to pull towards safety with it now looking like one from four to join Wolves and Burnley.
“Surely Tottenham can’t be pulled into a relegation battle?” Shearer questioned on Match of the Day. “They’re going to have to start winning games and sharpish. West Ham I still think, just. I can hear the West Ham fans screaming at me now. Leeds will be alright I think, because of the home form. Really strong at home.”
Friday’s victory took Leeds onto 29 points with three more wins enough to guarantee their pre-season point-per-game target of 38, while a couple of draws on top will put them on 40 - generally considered to secure safety. Farke’s side still have both of the bottom two at home plus the likes of Sunderland, Brighton and Brentford.
Leeds United backed to survive by second pundit
Leeds might need to go a little beyond 40 this season, such is the uptick in form of West Ham and expectation that Spurs will improve - albeit that has been on hold for several weeks. But it’s the other current relegation candidate Shearer’s co-pundit Danny Murphy is worried about.
“Out of all the five teams up to Tottenham in the relegation battle, West Ham are in the best form and Palace are in the worst form,” Murphy added, prior to Palace’s win at Brighton. “I think it could go right to the wire.
“I think confidence is a massive thing down there. West Ham are now looking up, everyone’s buzzing at training. Whereas, the other teams aren’t winning any games, training’s harder every day, confidence is dropping. I’ve got a feeling with Forest’s European tilt, that might hamper them a little bit.”
Forest will hope to bounce back when they host rock-bottom Wolves on Wednesday, 24 hours after Leeds’ trip to Chelsea. The Whites head to Stamford Bridge having only won once away all season but they’ve recently enjoyed some good draws to tick along nicely on the road.
Leeds face difficult back-to-back away games at Chelsea and Aston Villa before hosting Manchester City, a tricky three-game period in which their six-point cushion on West Ham is more likely to shrink than grow. Their fixtures turn from that point, however, with a strong finish to the season expected should nerves fail to get the better of them.