Michael O’Neill has been looking ahead to a trip to Leeds United on Thursday, admitting it is an extremely difficult task for his Stoke City side to back up their weekend result.
Leeds are fighting a very different battle to Stoke this season in the Championship, with the Whites looking to secure promotion to the Premier League and the Potters aiming to avoid a second relegation in the space of three seasons.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side are a tough prospect on home soil, with O’Neill well aware of just how tough it will be going up against the Argentine, despite an encouraging 4-0 win over Barnsley over the weekend.
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As quoted by Leeds Live, O’Neill said: “We’re coming off a good performance and a good result and we’ll take that into Leeds, which is an extremely difficult game but one where there is possibly less expectation on us.
“If we can take something from that game it will help us and then we’ve got a game at home against Birmingham.
“Our focus is on Thursday. We can’t control what happens with teams around us and we are emphasising to players to concentrate on the game ahead of us, play that game and make sure you get as much as you can out of that game.”
Despite a win over Barnsley last time out, Stoke aren’t free from the threat of the relegation zone and could find themselves in a tough position on Thursday night with the entire division in action before their trip to Leeds.
Likewise, at the top of the table West Brom and Brentford have the chance to turn up the pressure on Leeds, with that pair in action over the course of the next 48 hours.
The Verdict
It’s going to be tough for Stoke and the way O’Neill is talking here it appears they are approaching this game like something of a ‘free hit’.
The focus will have been picking up maximum points from their meeting with Barnsley at the weekend and beyond Leeds another winnable game awaits.
That approach can often work out and we may see Stoke arrive at Elland Road, playing with the freedom you don’t often see from sides in their position.
It makes it even more of a dangerous fixture for Leeds.
Thoughts? Let us know!