Leeds United’s youngsters offer hope in Premier League survival fight, says Jack Harrison

The Whites losing 2-1 at Arsenal as Everton beat Leicester City by the same scoreline saw them drop into the bottom three with the end of the season fast approaching.

They have just three games – at home to Chelsea and Brighton and Hove Albion and away at Brentford – to overhaul Burnley, who are level on points with a far superior goal difference and Everton, a point ahead with a game in hand.

To make matters worse, for the second weekend running they lost one of their key senior players for the rest of the season. Stuart Dallas broke his leg but Luke Ayling’s red card was all his own fault. At least the performance of 19-year-old half-time substitute Lewis Bate gave some cause for optimism.

“It’s been like this for the majority of the season with a lot of injuries and difficult moments throughout the season but it’s the way we are, we always try to fight through these moments,” said Harrison. “We’re ambitious and the young guys have come in and done well. Lewis came in and I thought he played well again. It’s times like that when the young guys have to step up and they have all season.

“It’s about staying together, the young guys stepping up and we just have to stay positive.”

Maintaining that positivity in adversity is crucial says Harrison, who took heart from the way his team fought for a seemingly lost cause in the second half, reducing a 2-0 deficit when Diego Llorente scored from their first shot.

“You saw the massive lift from the crowd and the reaction it had, just that belief that we can still go on and maybe get another goal,” argued Harrison.

“I know we didn’t in the end but having that belief is going to be crucial for us going forward.

“(Coach Jesse Marsch) showed us a quote from Ghandi before the game about having belief and that’s the most important thing for us – just having belief and everything else comes after that, staying together and the tactics.

“At this point it’s a difficult moment for us as a club but we have to stay together, we have to have a belief and keep going forward positively.”