Football managers really earn their money when they are faced with adversity and tough challenges. That is currently what is happening at both ends of the Premier League table as a number of clubs will be fighting right until the last day to achieve their goals.
For Leeds United, Burnley and Everton, that goal is to secure their status as a top-flight club but it looks as though one of those sides will drop into the Championship. At the moment, the Toffees are the team occupying the final relegation place above Norwich and Watford but they have a game-in-hand.
Leeds would drop into the bottom three if Frank Lampard’s side are able to win that game while Burnley would be out of the drop zone on goal difference. That possibility highlights exactly why every point is vitally important at the bottom of the table and the managers of each of the three threatened sides are fully aware of that.
Read more: Leeds United, Everton and Burnley's injury situations compared as Whites reel from latest blows
We have taken a look at what each of Jesse Marsch, Mike Jackson and Frank Lampard have had to say about their chances of survival.
Jesse Marsch – Leeds United
While the defeat to Manchester City was hardly a shock, it was part of a damaging weekend for Leeds. As they were beaten, both of their relegation rivals picked up important victories.
That was then compounded by a serious injury to Stuart Dallas after Liam Cooper had to be replaced in the starting XI in the warm up. The 4-0 scoreline wasn’t a fair reflection of the game at Elland Road as Marsch’s side gave as good as they got and probably should have been, at least, level at half-time.
In spite of the result, the American was impressed by what he saw from his team. He said in his post-match press conference : “Before the match, I said to them we wanted to at the end of the match look each other in the eye and say that was our best, and I think we can comfortably do that.
“We wanted to have something to bring take with us and continue to grow from the experience so that we can be ready for the next four massive challenges and I think we can do that. I think we can do that.
“We knew this was not going to be easy. I came from vacation and stepped into a relegation battle and I said again, that I knew that this was going to go down to the wire and I'd still believe that and we are up for it and the confidence I have in our group and in the way they work every day and the desire they have to do whatever it takes gives me a lot of optimism and confidence and so you know, we won't be easy, but we're going to keep pushing.”
Mike Jackson – Burnley
Burnley’s brilliant revival continued as they made it three consecutive wins with a late comeback against a doomed Watford side at Vicarage Road. In his brief time as the club’s manager, Mike Jackson is yet to have been on the losing side with 10 points from his four games.
It has given the Clarets real hope of staying in the Premier League after looking as though they would be joining Norwich and Burnley in the Championship next season. But Jackson was not allowing himself to get carried away after the win.
When asked if the result piled pressure onto their rivals, he replied: "You can say that but I think there is always pressure at this stage of the season. It only disappears when you know you have done the job.
“For us, we have to focus on what we are doing. I think they [the players] know [nothing is achieved].
“It was enjoy today and tonight but then be ready to go again next week and nothing changes. They are an experienced enough group to know what is at stake and the focus is on the next game."
Frank Lampard – Everton
Everton carried on their impressive home form on Sunday as Richarlison’s second-half goal led them to a 1-0 win against Chelsea. Their issues have been widely documented but those issues have largely come on their travels away from Goodison Park.
Frank Lampard was understandably ecstatic with the victory against his former side but he, like Jackson, wasn’t getting ahead of himself. He was asked what it means for Everton to have their fate in their own hands, to which he responded: “I don’t know what is in your hands or not around the bottom of the table because if it was a Liverpool Man City battle, we’d probably all think they’d win every game and ‘in your hands’ is great at that point.
“But, with us, are we expecting Burnley to win every game? At the minute maybe yeah! But are we expecting Leeds to win every game? So I think it’s hard to say about what’s in our hands or not.
“The only thing I can say is that we can control certain things and that’s the difficult thing. We can’t control Burnley, we can’t control Leeds but we can control ourselves.
“Over five games, we’ll have to control that ourselves well enough to get enough points but we don’t know what that is.”
