Leeds United confirmed XI v Brighton: Lewis Bate dropped
Jesse Marsch has named his Leeds United side to take on Brighton this afternoon with a result necessary to keep their survival hopes alive.
With just two games to go, the American coach has made three changes to the side that was beaten 3-0 by Chelsea in midweek with the suspended Dan James one of those to be left out of the side.
Junior Firpo replaces Pascal Struijk in the defence with the Dutch defender axed to the bench while Mateusz Klich takes the place of Lewis Bate in midfield. Joe Gelhardt takes James’ place.
The Whites really need a good result in their relegation fight with both Burnley and Everton, the two sides in front of them, also playing on Sunday.
Defeat for Marsch’s side and victories for their rivals will almost certainly send Leeds down with their highly inferior goal difference likely to be the deciding factor should it all finish level on points.
Judgement day
The final game of the season next week might be when everything ends up being said and done but what happens today is going to be a big indicator as to which teams fancy their chances of staying up.
Burnley have a very tough game away at Tottenham Hotspur that they will likely lose if you go off form and the fact that Spurs are chasing their north London rivals Arsenal for a Champions League place.
Everton meanwhile host Brentford, the team Leeds will play on the last day, and victory for them might well secure their safety if we don’t also win against the Seagulls.
The biggest problem for us though is the fact that both of our rivals have a game in hand and should they be successful in them, today’s results may well be totally irrelevant anyway.
But Marsch can’t think like that because he needs to motivate his team to give themselves a chance before the final day because ‘Survival Sunday’ always throws up drama and all you need is a chance and it could just come through.
In other Leeds United news, Tom Lawrence is a reported target for the Whites but he could be available for absolutely nothing this summer.