Leeds United v Tottenham Hotspur: Sam Allardyce's mind games matter for Whites' last throw of dice

Leeds United must beat Tottenham Hotspur to have a chance of remaining in the Premier League, but even victory might not be enough.

A win for Everton at home to Bournemouth will send Leeds down. So will one for Leicester City at home to West Ham United. Draws could open the door for Leeds, but in the case of the Toffees, only if the Whites win by a three-goal margin.

All three games kick off at 4.30pm so nobody gains an unfair advantage. The mobile phone networks in West Yorkshire, Merseyside and Leicester will take a real battering.

Stomach-knotting tension is almost guaranteed – in Leeds's situation none would probably be worse – but the Whites cannot let it affect their performance as Allardyce felt it did at West Ham last week.

Take Luke Ayling's comments that "In years gone past teams have feared us when it comes to running, we had our fitness and stuff, but it just doesn't feel like it's there."

Allardyce thinks even that had more to do with brains than legs.

"Mental fitness is much better than physical fitness because you'll give more when you're mentally strong,” he explains. “You will overcome that lack of physical fitness."

So Allardyce has been trying all the tricks this week. Leeds trained at Elland Road for three days and had legends of the club such as Eddie Gray, Gary McAllister and Gordon Strachan drop by for pep talks.

The week has been about enjoyment.

It has all been led by Allardyce, so downbeat in the London Stadium's media room last weekend.

"My mood is always very good at the football club,” he says. "My job is (then) to lift everybody and that's why I call myself a manager rather than a coach. I've got a big responsibility to understand people, to lead people and understand how they work. It's as important as tactics.

"I think we've enjoyed our week as best we possibly can and our focus has always been on how do we beat the opposition. Hopefully we can translate what we've done on Sunday."

Even his pre-match press conference moved, in line with training.

"We've trained here (at Elland Road) for three days leading up to the game and it's the familiarity of this stadium," he explains. "It's all about this arena on Sunday and the fantastic atmosphere that will go with it as it was when we played Newcastle. Hopefully we'll go one step further and win the game instead of drawing."

The chats from ex-players were "about how important Leeds is and what it meant to them, a bit more of the history of the football club and they had very successful times here.

"It's about improving our mentality to deliver. It's a different voice speaking about football, what they did at this football club and how much they love the club, I think it's really important.

"Once (the younger players) found out who they were and what they'd done, (they took) a great deal (from it). All they had to do was listen."

With so many distractions and potential to be disheartened against a Tottenham team with the booby prize of the Europa Conference League to play for and a captain and centre-forward in Harry Kane who might be wearing their shirt for the last time, concentration will be vital. It went missing in east London.

"We have to play the game for the entire period of the game," stresses Allardyce. "We can't just do what we did against West Ham and get lost in the second half and didn't recover. You can get lost for five or 10 minutes and hold on and come back into the game. We never really did that.

"(West Ham manager) David Moyes said to me us not being 3-0 up inside the first 20, 25 minutes is why they got back in the game. When the opposition manager, who I've known for God knows how many years, tells you that, you know you're on the right track.

"The ball will be in play for 52 minutes, maybe 55. So it's about 55 minutes of pure concentration, not 90. Then it's just about getting in the right position, doing the right thing.

"I just want to see their best and the best will get the fans behind them and that will help them score or do what they need to do to get the result."

So with all the talk of enjoyment, has Allardyce enjoyed coming out of what looked like retirement for four matches to try and save Leeds's Premier League status?

He does not seem to be able to make up his mind.

"I hate it where I am now," he says at first, later changing his tune a touch to "I've enjoyed it as best I can.

"I don't enjoy it when we lose, I don't enjoy travelling back or the day after but after that we analyse it, get over it and start again.

"Working with young players keeps you young, thinking about what we're going to do instead of wondering about if I'm going to have a cup of tea and a poached egg on toast, walk around the reservoir, watch whatever's on Netflix, then walk round the reservoir again. It's pretty Goddamn boring."

Sunday will not be boring and whether it is enjoyable or not will be clear cut. Preserve Leeds's top-flight status and it will be delight at full-time, fail to and it will be despair.

It is all in the mind.