Jack Harrison on why Leeds United could be even better in the Premier League

Leeds are heading for top-flight football for the first time since the club’s relegation in May 2004 having stormed to the 2018-19 Championship title in finishing ten points clear of second-placed West Brom.

Harrison admits his side will now be faced with a sizeable challenge battling the country’s elite but the 23-year-old Manchester City loanee believes his team’s style of play could thrive in the country’s top tier.

Away from their promotion push, Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites were particularly impressive in last season’s sole encounter against Premier League opponents when facing Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium for a third round FA Cup tie on January 6.

With the onus on huge favourites Arsenal to attack, Leeds dominated the first-half and created a whole of host of goalscoring chances only to enter the interval tied at 0-0.

After a dusting down from boss Mikel Arteta, the Gunners then improved in the second half and recorded a 1-0 victory as Reiss Nelson bagged the only goal of the game but the contest and United’s football overall has Harrison full of hope for what might be possible in the Premier.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” said Harrison, asked in an interview with the BBC about how much both he and Leeds would need to improve in the country’s top flight.

“But once you come through those challenges you can ultimately come out better.

“We know it’s not going to be easy, not only for myself but as a group and we know we have to work even harder than last year to do well in this league.

“I think we are prepared for it, we are prepared to do that and maybe the Premier League style of play might suit us a bit better.

“It’s exciting times, we just have to see what happens going forwards but I think we all have faith in Marcelo and the team that we are more than capable of doing well in this league.”

Assessing why the Premier League might suit United better, Harrison reasoned: “I think when played Arsenal earlier on this year we took them by surprise in the first half by our style of play.

“If we can continue to do that and maybe take our opportunities and chances when we can then we can hopefully get great goals on teams and then manage the game from there on out.

“It’s difficult to say at the moment but I think we all have faith in Marcelo’s methodology and we are all going to follow that and he knows what’s best to do.”

The 2020-21 Premier League campaign will begin over the weekend of September 12 and United returned to training this week on Thursday.

The Premier League have announced that the fixtures for the new season will be unveiled by no later then this coming Friday.

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Thank you Laura Collins