Leeds expert delivers no-nonsense warning ahead of 'must-win' Wolves clash
Leeds United are back in action on Saturday when they travel to take on Wolves at Molineux.
With Jorgen Strand Larsen reportedly available for the game against Leeds, Daniel Farke will be aware that Wolves' attacking threat has just increased dramatically.
Seemingly, if you score against Leeds this season so far, you are guaranteed to win the game, and with both Dan James and Willy Gnonto doubts for the Wolves game, United's chances of scoring just got even slimmer.
Despite it being September, the magnitude of this game cannot be underestimated, as Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth previewed the Whites' trip to the West Midlands.
Trip to Molineux 'a must-win game', says Graham Smyth
After recent footage showed Gnonto training with the rest of the team, supporters will be hoping that the Italian winger makes a miraculous recovery in time to feature against Wolves.
With Wolves losing all four of their Premier League games so far, Smyth claimed on the Inside Elland Road podcast that the game against Wolves is a "must-win".
"I think it's a must-win game. If you can't score goals and you can't beat Wolves, then who are you going to score goals against and who are you going to beat?" Smyth said.
"I have covered a lot of relegations in my time, and you almost sleepwalk into them thinking nothing is must-win at this stage, it's still early, you could lose to Wolves and still stay up.
- More pressure is on the Whites to win after Gabriel Gudmundsson's own goal cost Leeds a valuable point against Fulham
- United are yet to pick up a point away from home
- Farke's side have also not scored a goal from open play against Premier League opposition
"Then you start to run out of those opportunities to say that. You have to beat your nearest rivals. This is an opportunity to put the foot on the throat of Wolves.
"Now you come into this game and you really have to win it, that's the way I'm looking at it," Smyth said.
Wolves game more of a must-not-lose as opposed to must-win
Football is anything but linear.
Leeds cannot go into the season with the mindset that they will beat the other two promoted sides, both home and away, as well as the other clubs that may be pulled into a relegation battle, like Wolves and West Ham.
So, although Wolves are a team there for the taking at the moment, given their form, it is not as simple as if Leeds don't beat Wolves, they will not win a single game away from home throughout the entire season.
A draw at Molineux would be far from the end of the world, and in a relegation battle, every point on the road is a good one at this stage.
That is why the draw at Fulham would have been such a good result, as they are a team that comfortably finished mid-table last season.
If Leeds want to avoid the drop, they must be capable of scratching and clawing for every point possible, even if they are up against a team higher up in the league.
If United can only beat the teams at the bottom of the division, then they are simply not a Premier League-quality side in the first place.
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