Big guns on Leeds United horizon but Jesse Marsch sends firm Whites message and Palace warning

Leeds will finally return to Premier League action after a 15-day break through Monday night's clash at Palace who are now the lowest-positioned team of the six sides United will tackle in their run in.

Hot on the heels of facing the Eagles, Leeds will play three of the division's top four in succession, next Saturday's Elland Road date against leaders Manchester City followed by a trip to fourth-placed Arsenal and then a home date against a Chelsea side sat third.

Another Elland Road fixture against 12th-placed Brighton will then present United's penultimate game of the season before the season finale at a Brentford outfit who are continuing to defy expectations in 11th.

Seventeenth would still be a case of mission accomplished for Marsch's men, the American appointed as United's new head coach with Leeds hovering dangerously close to the drop zone following consecutive defeats against Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton as part of a haul of just one point from a terrible six game run.

Marsch's tenure then started with back to back defeats but his side are now heading to Palace unbeaten in their last four games having taken ten points from a possible 12.

On paper at least, Monday's fixture against the Eagles would appear to present one of the more obvious opportunities to pick up another three points with three big guns lurking ahead.

Marsch, though, is not considering United's upcoming tests when assessing the importance of beating Palace who the Whites boss has enormous respect for in their own right.

"There's incredible challenges coming up," admitted Marsch, asked just how important Monday night's game was given the opposition in the next three games.

"There's some really, really good opponents. But we’ve done a good job of staying in the moment and going step-by-step.

"My focus is not about how important the three points are or what the upcoming schedule is.

"Crystal Palace is a team we have a lot of respect for, they made it to the FA Cup semi-final, they’ve had an incredible season, they have a lot of quality players that are very dangerous in one-v-one situations and in transition moments and they have a really good coach.

"We know that Palace is a tough place to play so it will be a big challenge for us and it will require entire concentration and focus on the task at hand."

Fifteen days have now passed since United's last task away at Watford in which a 3-0 victory took March's side nine points clear of the drop zone but with both third-bottom Burnley and fourth-bottom Everton having games in hand.

Burnley then clawed a point back via a 1-1 draw at West Ham United the following day in the club's first game since sacking long serving boss Sean Dyche before Everton struck late to seal a 1-1 draw at home to Leicester City on Wednesday night.

But what had been a nine-point cushion to the drop zone for Leeds was then reduced to a five-point gap the following night as Burnley recorded a convincing 2-0 win at home to Southampton.

Bottom two sides Norwich City and Watford then suffered heavy defeats against Newcastle United and Manchester City respectively on Saturday afternoon and the bookmakers rate the Canaries and Hornets as being as good as down.

In their view, it's then one from three out of Burnley, Everton or Leeds joining them for the drop, despite the fifth-bottom Whites being just four points behind both 15th-placed Aston Villa and Monday's 14th-placed hosts Palace.

Asked how any teams he felt were involved in the scrap to stay up, Marsch reasoned: "It depends on every result really. I don’t really care about anyone else.

"Of course, when you watch the other games, it’s helpful when they don’t get points but you have to expect, I said it right after the Watford game that, by the time we play our match at Palace, the table will look a lot tighter and a lot different and it already has shown that.

"We just have to take care of ourselves.

"I think that you can see there are twists and turns every night so, again, the only thing for us to do is to just focus on us and making sure that we have a performance that gives us a chance to get the three points."

Pressed on whether he was surprised at Burnley's decision to axe Dyche, Marsch said: ""Sean had a big history at the club and so, for me, you never like to see managers lose their jobs.

"Everybody puts a lot into this, especially when a manager has big history and has meant a lot to the club, I said that here with Marcelo.

"But this is the business we live in and everyone has to try and do the best they can, as players, as managers, as kitmen, whatever it is.

"Thankfully we have that at Thorp Arch, we have an incredible group of people that are totally committed to the common cause and my job is to lead them in a way where everybody feels valued and everybody can do their best."