Leeds have picked up only one point in their last five games, pulling them back into the relegation battle
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With 13 games left to play, Leeds United have unexpectedly found themselves in the midst of a relegation battle. The Whites looked like they would climb to the safety of midtable after a Jack Harrison hat-trick gave them a 3-2 victory over West Ham United in January but unfortunately, they have picked up only one point from their last five games, whilst teams below them have hit their best form of the season, bunching the bottom six of the Premier League together.
Whilst Leeds have been dropping in recent weeks and confidence is low after losing 6-0 to Liverpool, they will be heartened that they still remain outside the relegation places and they have some key fixtures coming up as they look to secure safety.
In fact, as the table below shows, Leeds may have an advantage over some of their rivals:
Looking at the final column, which contains the average league position of each team's next six opponents, Leeds are joint with Norwich for the second easiest run of six games. However, Norwich are cut off from the rest of the pack and would need to win the majority of their remaining games to stand a chance. Meanwhile, Brentford, just one point above Leeds with one game fewer to play, have the easiest run as they face two of the teams in the relegation zone, along with a home match against 17th placed Newcastle.
The teams with the toughest run of games are Newcastle, Everton and Watford, with those three teams facing sides who average the higher end of mid-table.
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Importantly, Leeds have the most home games of any of their rivals in the next six games, with four of those fixtures coming at Elland Road, where Leeds fans will hope to roar their team onto the points required to secured safety. These games are Tottenham, Aston Villa, Norwich and Southampton, with the away games being at Wolves and Leicester.
Burnley also have a majority of their games at home, whilst Everton, Newcastle and Watford have only two home games in their next six fixtures.
Whilst Leeds have just played two of the top teams in Manchester United and Liverpool, they are now moving into a run of six games where none of their opponents are currently in the top six. This makes them the only team in the bottom six who don't face any of the top six during this next run. All of the others face at least one, with Watford having to play three as they have fixtures against Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Leeds still have other fixtures they will earmark as winnable after this run of six games, with away fixtures at Watford and Brentford possibly being crucial but the Whites will certainly be looking at this group of games as an opportunity to steady their season and make a giant step towards safety and another Premier League season.
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