BIELSA FEARS THE SCARY CANARIES
They have scored just two goals, not won a game and have only two points as they sit rock-bottom of the Prem, but Leeds boss is wary of a Norwich blacklash after 7-0 drubbing at Chelsea
BY JEREMY CROSS
MARCELO BIELSA fears Leeds could be walking into a backlash at Carrow Road tomorrow.
Bielsa’s men travel to Norwich to face their fellow strugglers in a relegation scrap that could have a massive impact on the fate of both clubs.
The showdown is guaranteed to be one for the footballing purist to avoid.
Between them, both teams have managed just one Premier League win all season from 18 games combined, and scored only 10 goals, with Leeds getting eight of them.
The Canaries remain winless and bottom of the table with two points and a mountain to climb if they are to produce a miracle and beat the drop.
Leeds have fared little better with their only league triumph coming against Watford earlier this month.
The novelty of the Yorkshire club back in the top flight has well and truly worn off, with Bielsa’s struggling side fourth from bottom, and in danger of dropping into the relegation zone with defeat at Carrow Road. But despite his side’s poor form, manager Bielsa is more worried about how fired up Daniel Farke’s men will be after slumping to a humiliating 7-0 defeat at Chelsea last Saturday (a dejected Teemu Pukki, right).
Bielsa said: “Norwich is a team that can be divided into two parts.
“The first half of their games they wanted to be protagonists, in the second half they’ve tried to be solid defensively. That defeat to Chelsea was linked to the fact they played a large part of that game with a man down.
“But when teams lose so heavily they multiply their effort, so a similar defeat does not happen in the next game.
“Any team requires the same analysis because it’s the Premier League that’s our reality. Every difficult.” Bielsa has been
and game is beset by injuries and will still be without Patrick Bamford and Luke Ayling. But he has Junior Firpo and Raphinha available while Kalvin Phillips is expected to start. Bielsa is refusing to accept the stick some of his players have been receiving – including Jack Harrison.
He added: “What’s happening to Harrison is happening to all our players, where they have better or worse moments. Nobody is able to maintain a regular consistency in their performances, especially when they are playing in attack. “Harrison can play on both wings and he will shine again.
“It’s my job to put him in situations in the game where he’s able to shine and to make him as important as
I feel that he is. Any question that invites public criticism of my players, of course I reject.”
Norwich have won four of their six Premier League meetings with Leeds (D1 L1), though this is their first game against each other in the competition since May 1995 – a 2-1 win for Leeds that saw Norwich relegated.
Leeds have lost just one of their last five away league games against Norwich (W2 D2), winning 3-0 on their last visit in August 2018.
Since their return to the PL last season, Leeds are unbeaten in all eight of their league games against sides
in the relegation zone (W6 D2). However, they’ve failed to win either such match so far this season, drawing 1-1 with Burnley and Newcastle United.
Norwich’s goal difference of -21 is the joint worst record at this stage of a league campaign, level with Sheffield Wednesday in 1999-00.
The Canaries haven’t scored more than one goal in any of their last 27 Prem matches. Only two teams in English top-flight history have had longer runs without netting more than
once in a game – Arsenal (September 1912 to March 1913, 28 in a row) and Wolves (January 1984 to October 2003, 30 in a row).
Leeds have just seven points from nine league matches this season (W1 D4 L4), their worst tally at this stage of a season since 1988-89, when they had six.
Among managers with more than one season in the Prem, Norwich’s Daniel Farke has the worst pointsper-game ratio (0.49), the lowest win ratio (10.6%) and lowest goals-per-game ratio (0.60) of them all.