MARSCH: DON’T POINT FINGERS

JESSE MARSCH saw Leeds drop into the relegation zone, then warned the team are “screwed” if they start blaming each other.

The visitors were 2-0 down within 10 minutes at the Emirates and had skipper Luke Ayling sent off for a horror challenge on Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli.

“If we started playing the blame games with players we’re screwed,” said the Leeds boss.

“We have to stick together and fight for points, it’s not a time to point the finger.”

Keeper Illan Meslier gifted Eddie Nketiah the first of his two goals to take Arsenal closer to securing a top-four finish, while leaving Leeds in serious danger.

Leeds host Chelsea on Wednesday and Marsch, who took charge in February, added: “The ironic thing was this was 500 games for

Luke, but it was a moment of poor judgement.

“But he’s been an incredible part of the team since I’ve been here.

“Young goalkeepers can make mistakes, but the rest of Meslier’s game was good today. We are going to need him in the last three games.

“We have to stay positive, stay strong and forage on.

“The focus is fully on Chelsea to prepare for a key game. We dug ourselves a massive hole and made a difficult task much, much more difficult.

“But our resolve and fight when the game was incredibly hard was amazing.”

Leeds had to play for more than an hour with 10 men following Ayling’s red card (above) but they held out before staging a fightback with Diego Llorente scoring in the 66th minute (below) to set up a tense finish.

Marsch added: “Our backs are against the wall. We are in the relegation zone but we have to fight for our lives.”