Jack Harrison demands unity as Premier League survival bid enters critical phase - YEP 10/5/22
Leeds United winger Jack Harrison says his side must stick together in order to get through a 'difficult' moment for the club.
By Flora Snelson
The Whites have just three games of the Premier League
season remaining in which they must prove themselves worthy of the top-flight
status, only recently earned after sixteen years of fighting to return.
Level on points with Burnley, the relegation battle has
become a straight shootout, with Leeds' significantly poorer goal difference
demanding that the West Yorkshire side must not only match but outplay their
Lancashire counterparts, with Everton not yet out of sight but finding form at
the crucial moment of the season.
The fight begins on Wednesday evening, when United host
third-placed Chelsea at Elland Road for the first of a trio of matches that
will decide the Whites' destiny.
Harrison said that the unity of the team is a priority as
they battle through a tough moment.
"We have an important game coming up on Wednesday, and
we just have to stay strong and be ready for that," Harrison said.
"At this point, it's a difficult moment for us as a
club, but we have to stay together, we have to have belief and keep going
forward positively."
The Blues clash comes just three days after Leeds suffered a
disappointing 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, where an early mistake by
United 'keeper Illan Meslier put the visitors on the backfoot before a rash
challenge by Luke Ayling, deemed a dismissible offence by referee Chris
Kavanagh, weakened their chances of recovering a desperately-needed result.
Leeds' second-half fightback, though it couldn't earn them
points, was evidence of a familiarity with adversity that Harrison says has
characterised the 2021/2022 season.
"It's difficult - we have a lot of things to think
about, and we have a lot of good things to take from the [Arsenal] game as
well," Harrison said in his post-match interview.
"I think it's been like that for the majority of the
season really, with a lot of injuries and difficult moments throughout the
season.
"But, the club that we are, we always try and fight
through these moments."
One player who successfully shifted the balance of play in
the Gunners' defeat after the interval was 19-year-old substitute Lewis Bate,
who could face up against his former side Chelsea on Wednesday evening.
Harrison believes that the young players who have been
called upon to fill in for the Whites' various injured senior players this
season will play a big part in the fight for survival.
"We're ambitious and the young guys are coming on,
Lewis came in again, and I thought he played well again today and it's times
like that where the young lads step up and they have all season," Harrison
said.
"It's about staying together, the young lads stepping
up and we just have to stay positive."
