Javi Gracia issues Leeds United final warning and provides take on 40 point theory
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Leeds found themselves in the Premier League's drop zone heading into Tuesday night's Elland Road contest against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest but a 2-1 victory propelled the Whites up five places to 13th.
United, though, remain just two points clear of the bottom three and Whites head coach Gracia has refuted suggestions that a weight has been lifted ahead of this weekend's visit of 12th-placed Palace.
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Hide Ad"For me, nothing has changed," declared Gracia. "We need more points and we try to play with the same desire, the same energy. Nothing has changed for me.
"I know now we can speak about how important it is to get six (points) in a row, to get six in these two games, but I am not watching our last game to give more or less importance to the next. For sure, we need to win the next, but we did it in all the games we've had to do before.
"Now it's a new game where we know our objective in play and we need the points. Now it's try to be focused on that game and give all importance. It's like if it were a final for us. We need the points and we have to play with that mentality."
Tuesday's win against Forest took Leeds up to 29 points with nine games left. It has widely been regarded that 40 points is enough for safety although 35 would have been enough to survive in the last five seasons. Gracia, though, is giving no thought to theories on what the required tally might be to survive this term.
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Hide Ad"I don't know," said Gracia, asked if 40 points would be enough. "If you see different seasons, you'll see different points, different situations but I am not concerned with that. I'm only concerned with the points available in the next game. We need the next three points, the next three points I need it."
Gracia added: "We have to know how difficult it is to get a win in this competition. We did it in our last game, but we know how hard it is to get the three points in play. Of course we have a positive mentality and we'll try to do it, but we have to be humble and to give importance to every single point we have."