Here are the latest Leeds United headlines on Saturday, May 7.
Burnley suffer defeat and crushing injury blow
Burnley’s three-game win streak has come to a crushing end as the Clarets were beaten 3-1 by Aston Villa at Turf Moor. And the Clarets’ misery was compounded when centre-back James Tarkowski was substituted off injured early in the second half.
Mike Jackson’s side have been without the influential Ben Mee since early March, with the defender looking likely to miss the season. The addition of Tarkowski in the treatment room could be a massive blow for Burnley with three crucial games left.
Leeds remain level on points with the Clarets but now have Sunday’s game at Arsenal in hand, while Everton remain two points from both with two games in hand.
READ MORE: Leeds United injury list in full as Jesse Marsch provides Stuart Dallas and Liam Cooper updates
Players’ ‘phenomenal’ response at Thorp Arch
Whites manager Jesse Marsch has spoken about the players’ ‘phenomenal’ response to a weekend in which almost everything went against the club. Defeat to Manchester City was sandwiched between wins for Burnley and Everton to drag Leeds right back into the relegation fight.
But Marsch said during his pre-Arsenal press conference that despite emotions running high among the group in the week, the players were brilliant during their weekend preparation.
“It’s normal after results, whether they’ve gone for or against us, to have emotions attached to what’s happening, but by the time we get to work and get on the pitch and start talking about what we want the weekend to look like, there’s clarity and not a lot of tension at that point,” he said.
“It’s normal for everyone to have emotional responses to different results that don’t go our way or do go our way, but again, the work and the focus, and the focus on the work here, has been phenomenal. It’s been a real strength of ours so far.”
Raphinha opens up on ‘complicated’ season
Brazilian star Raphinha has opened up on what has been a ‘complicated’ season for the Whites and hailed Marsch for his work since coming in. It’s fair to say this season has not gone as planned, with Leeds 17th and in massive danger of relegation.
And in an interview with Stadium Astro, Raphinha has pinpointed the magnitude of key injuries as the key factor in an underwhelming season.
“I believe that it was a very complicated season for us, mainly because of injuries, we ended up suffering a lot of loss of players, due to injuries. That’s it.” Raphinha said.
“It ended up reducing the work and even what Marcelo tried to propose to do and then it ends up being normal. We have some difficulties, we have some frustrations because of us not getting the results and then arrival of Jesse Marsch we got the positive results.
“We are still fighting down there but we managed to come back with our confidence and of course it’s normal, we’re frustrated after the season, and I couldn’t keep the same level this year.”
