The visit of Norwich City to Elland Road on Sunday is undoubtedly Leeds United’s biggest game since they returned to the Premier League last season.
The Whites were plunged closer to the prospect of relegation on Thursday evening as they were taken apart by Aston Villa.
The 3-0 scoreline flattered Steven Gerrard’s side who were far the better team in Jesse Marsch’s first home game as head coach.
Anything less than a victory against Norwich will now not suffice as Leeds must, firstly, stop the run of defeats and, secondly, start to climb away from the relegation zone.
While they are still outside the bottom three, both Burnley and Everton in the places below have two and three games in hand respectively.
Speaking as part of Amazon Prime Sport’s coverage of the defeat to Villa, Paul Robinson was very clear on how big Sunday’s game is for Leeds.
“I can’t imagine it will be a pretty game,” claimed the former Whites goalkeeper. “I think both teams will set up to not lose the game.
“Leeds’ goal difference is terrible. Games in hand are not points in the bank, we know that, but when they’ve played two or three games more than those around them, with a goal difference as bad as Leeds’ is, that’s another point of their tally on goal difference.
“Three points is a must on Sunday.”
When asked if Leeds would be able to do enough to secure their top-flight status, Robinson was not convinced given his former side’s terrible run of results, and performances.
“Based on tonight’s performance, I struggle to see where the next win is going to come from,” he said.
“You look at the fixtures, the way they’re playing, you struggle to see any way they can get out of it playing the way that they do.
“Confidence is a huge thing in football and one result can change that for Leeds. There has to be a huge improvement, if they get a result against Norwich, then yes every chance they stay up.
“I’d hate to think they’re relying on Brentford and Burnley. I think it’s between Brentford, Burnley and Leeds as to who goes down.”
An opinion like that won’t be any different to anyone who has watched Leeds play in recent weeks.
For a team fighting to stay in the division, Sunday’s game could not be any bigger and it will make for an extremely tense atmosphere at Elland Road.
Although, a win for the home side would provide a huge, timely boost for the confidence of the players, staff and supporters at Leeds.
Everton’s home clash with Wolves will be kicking off at the same time as the so-called ‘relegation six-pointer’ at Elland Road so one positive is that Marsch’s side know they won’t be in the bottom three at 2pm on Sunday.
However, a Burnley victory at Brentford at 3pm on Saturday would move Leeds just a point and a place above the drop zone.
