Gary Neville believes Leeds United will stay in the Premier League if they can replicate the performance against Manchester City in their final four matches.
The Whites are firmly in the relegation battle following their 4-0 defeat against the Citizens at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Rodri, Nathan Ake, Raheem Sterling and Fernandinho sealed the win for Pep Guardiola's men which condemned the Whites to a first loss in five matches.
Although Leeds have been in good form since Jesse Marsch's appointment back in February, they have been dragged closer to the bottom three after Everton and Burnley both won on the weekend. The Clarets made it three successive victories with a 2-1 win over Watford, while Frank Lampard's men edged past Chelsea at Goodison Park.
Those results have left the Whites just two points above the drop zone, with Everton currently in 18th and looking to get back out of the bottom three. However, the Toffees do have a game in hand on Leeds - with Watford their opponents on May 11.
Burnley are level on points with Leeds but look set to steer themselves away from the relegation zone after picking up four wins and a draw from their last six matches. When delivering his verdict on the battle to stay up, Neville admitted Everton's win over Chelsea was "big" but insists the Whites need to replicate their display against City when they go into their final few games.
He told the Gary Neville Podcast : "I've thought all season that Leeds play like a team that could go down because of their recklessness, their openness and lack of ability at defending set pieces. I have to say that performance level against Man City, even thought they lost 4-0, was very different from the performances we've seen this season where they've been battered 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0, and we thought what the hell was that.
"The performance against City was very different. They were playing against a great side, but it wasn't a 4-0 performance. That performance in the final games keeps them up, but it's whether they start to get jittery."
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Neville added: "Everton's win is big. That puts massive pressure on Leeds, and it is how these players handle it.
"The Leeds crowd responded to the performance against City. They knew their side put a real shift in and it wasn't chaotic as we'd seen previously, where they just looked like a mess.
"They were organised, they were decent, and they didn't get that luck. They were a bit frantic in the final third and they've got to stop conceding goals from defensive set pieces.
"Losing Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas is a problem there. It's been the story of their season.
"They do things that teams go down do. They concede goals from set pieces, they are frantic in the final third and they do lack composure, but I do think if they can put four performances in like the one against Man City, it keeps them up."
