Leeds United winger Jack Harrison reckons his side need to continue to believe in themselves if they want to beat the Premier League drop following their 2-1 away defeat to Arsenal on Sunday. Due to Everton's 2-1 win over Leicester, Leeds have now dropped into the relegation zone with just three games left to play.
They conceded two early goals to Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah before captain Luke Ayling was sent off for a robust challenge on Gabriel Martinelli. Leeds did offer some fight-back despite being down to 10 men through a second-half Diego Llorente goal.
But ultimately they were unable to snatch what could have been a crucial point in North London, coming away empty-handed. Despite the defeat, Harrison thinks that Leeds need to show resilience and resolve in the face of their relegation battle, urging teammates and fans to stick together and show belief.
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"It's always difficult when you have a start like that with a red card," Harrison told Sky Sports. "This is football sometimes, you have to go against adversity and we did our best to try and pull things back.
"We were 2-0 down and it's not how we wanted to start at all but you know it's so important during those times to stay positive and stay together as a team and not go against each other and I think we did exactly that in the second half.
"We had a much better second half despite being a man down. It's difficult, we have a lot of things to think about and a lot of good things to take away from the game. We have an important game on Wednesday again and we have to stay strong and be ready for that.
"You saw the massive lift from the crowd and the reaction that all the players had and just that belief that we can still go on and maybe get another goal, I know we didn't in the end but having that belief is the most important thing and that's going to be crucial for us going forward."
Ayling's sending off means Leeds will be without one of their key starters for the remainder of the campaign, with the right-back now set to miss games against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford. It means that youngsters like Jamie Shackleton and Lewis Bate could be thrust into the spotlight for the final three games of Leeds' season.
But Harrison is backing whoever comes into the Leeds line-up to do a job and step up when called upon. "I think it's been like that for the majority of the season really with a lot of injuries," he added.
"They're difficult, difficult moments throughout the season. The club that we are, we always try and fight through these moments. We're ambitious and the young guys that have come in - Lewis [Bate] came in again and I thought he played well today.
"It's times like that where the young lads step up and they have all season so it's about staying together, the young lads stepping up. We just have to stay positive."
