We are not safe yet, says Leeds manager Bielsa
Marcelo Bielsa believes Premier League safety is not yet confirmed, despite his Leeds side ending their miserable run in London with a 2-1 win at Fulham.
Bielsa had not led his team to victory in the capital in 15 attempts, with all five previous visits this season ending in defeat.
But goals from Patrick Bamford – overlooked for England duty despite being one of the division’s top scorers – and Raphinha secured victory at Craven Cottage on Friday and moved Leeds 13 points clear of their 18th-placed opponents in the table.
But Bielsa said: “These are speculations that will confirm themselves mathematically. And with 27 points left to play, the safety is not confirmed.”
When asked if the side had improved since their thrilling 4-3 win over Fulham in September, the Leeds boss said: “I think our team has improved in a lot of aspects, they’ve improved in the way they compete, and how we manage different parts of the game, and when you come up against teams with hierarchy this always improves the quality of the players.”
Leeds’ intensity proved too much for Fulham, who remained in the relegation zone ahead of the crucial bottom-ofthe-table clash between Brighton and Newcastle last night.
Victory would have moved the Cottagers out of the bottom three, but despite Joachim Andersen’s first goal for the club making it 1-1 before half-time, they came away empty-handed.
Manager Scott Parker said: “Like I always say, you can never get too high when you’re winning games and vice versa when you’re losing.
“But at the same time, a performance like tonight, we understand that we need to improve and get better, so of course those experiences will always come into play in this moment.
“We’ve given ourselves a real good chance, and we still have a massive chance (or staying up), of course we do. Eight games left now, eight massive games.
“We need to learn from tonight, we need to be very honest with ourselves, because tonight we’ve fallen short in certain areas and we need to come back strong.”