Brighton's Ben White had it all but Leeds United still on course for party time with current status quo - David Prutton

There are nine points and five places between the two sides and Leeds would have to be very happy with that, especially having played one game less.

Brighton lost 1-0 at Manchester City on Wednesday night and City boss Pep Guardiola has called Brighton manager Graham Potter one of the best English coaches.

That is high praise indeed from someone like him.

Graham was talking ahead of the Man City game and saying how performances have been there but results haven't.

I understand and appreciate what he is saying but in the cutthroat world of what the Premier League is you need results.

That is something they will obviously be very mindful of.

I saw Brighton just before Christmas when they played Sheffield United at home and Sheffield United gave them a hell of a good game.

With Leeds, the arbitration of last weekend's FA Cup defeat at Crawley Town needs to get parked pretty quickly and also what happened in the Spurs game.

But Leeds quite obviously go into this game as favourites and it's the ideal game for them to get back on track.

There is almost an expectation that has been put on Leeds this season - almost as if they should win the majority of their games and when they don't they get battered.

You can understand where the expectation comes from because of the size and the magnitude of the club, the history and the tradition.

But it means nothing when you have been back in the Premier League for five minutes.

Brighton are an example of how to establish yourselves in recent seasons in the Premier League but Leeds are now put into this game as favourites given their results and the way that they have played so far upon their return to the Premier League.

It's a perfect game for them but Graham Potter will be looking forward to it, as will Marcelo, because we know how forensic both of these managers are.

Leeds will be coming up against last season's star loanee Ben White for the first time and it will be lovely because - Covid protocols notwithstanding - he will get a warm welcome and he will see a lot of familiar faces.

You can look at what they all went through last season and the emotions that they all felt together as a side in getting promoted and it was lovely to see.

It was a very 'sliding doors moment' for Ben in his career and it's funny because he was only on loan at a football club but there will be people who have spent a longer time at a football club yet had less of an impact.

That's because of firstly what a very good player he was and also the timing of the loan move being in that particular squad which managed to get Leeds back to the Premier League which was wonderful.

Marcelo will obviously remember him fondly and look at him as part of his development.

Now he is back at Brighton he has been deployed both in the defence and as a holding midfielder as well and we saw at Leeds that he could look slightly out of sorts playing in the holding midfield role.

But when you look at him doing that at Brighton, maybe there is an evolution to that that they have got to thank Marcelo for playing him in that position over the course of a couple of games last season.

Leeds went to around £25m plus add-ons to try and sign Ben and that is for a player who was unproven in the Premier League.

Rhian Brewster went to Sheffield United for around the same figure and that is at the top end of the pitch.

Baring Virgil van Dijk and Harry Maguire, more often than not the bigger amounts you pay are for strikers who score goals.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and Leeds signed Robin Koch and Diego Llorente instead but both have been injured, especially Llorente who has only played one game.

But that is the risk you take and it's a gamble when you bring anybody into a football club whether they are going to remain fit and free of injury.

That's just the risk that you take.

Leeds knew what Ben was about and they had a season to work with him.

When you look at other potential signings, that kind of courtship isn't there.

You can look and scout and think that someone will work well and keep fingers crossed they work well and then you see what happens once they are through the door.

If we are having a discussion in a years' time about who is in the Leeds defence and they are still in the Premier League, Koch and Llorente might have had a good run at it to be able to cement themselves. That's one side of it.

But on the flip side of it, when you look at how many goals Leeds have conceded they are playing against far superior strike forces so that's not a surprise to anyone.

If you are going to play in the Premier League you are going to play against better teams, better players, better managers and bigger set ups with clubs that have got huge and vast resources at their disposal. That was always going to be tricky.

Ben would have slotted right in, he would have been a wonderful addition to the football team and going forward I think he would have been the right age and the right temperament and the right style of player for Marcelo, as was proven last season.

But if the figures don't work then the figures don't work and that is above and beyond where Marcelo is and also Brighton being in a position where they can say 'thank you very much

Leeds United but you are going to be a rival to us for staying in the Premier League and you are not having Ben White for sod all.'

It worked perfectly well for them as a loan getting that experience into a player with that particular manager who has developed a lot of players as we have seen at Leeds.

That then bears fruit.

But whilst you can look at the number of goals that Leeds have conceded, United are nine points ahead of Brighton and with a game in hand.

Come the end of the season, it's nice if you are in a position where defensively you look relatively sound and you have been hard to beat.

But if Leeds United end up five places ahead of 17th place and nine points clear of the bottom three then that is party time, absolute party time.

That would be above and beyond what any expectation levels would ask of them.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/leeds-uniteds-predicted-line-brighton-clash-marcelo-bielsa-hand-defender-home-debut-3101757

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/marcelo-bielsa-leeds-uniteds-love-ben-white-and-brighton-warning-ahead-third-battle-graham-potter-3102164

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/yorkshire-evening-post-launch-leeds-united-only-digital-subscription-ahead-premier-league-campaign-2967964

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Thank you Laura Collins