Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch on 'best team in the world' Manchester City

His Leeds United will host defending Premier League champions and current league leaders Manchester City at home on Saturday in the first of three consecutive games against top-four teams.

The relegation-battling Whites host Manchester City, travel to Arsenal and welcome Chelsea to Elland Road in the next fortnight as the season reaches its crescendo.

Marsch, who has guided Leeds to a five-game unbeaten streak, is yet to face any of the current top seven since replacing Marcelo Bielsa, but he has encountered Manchester City this season.

As RB Leipzig boss, he suffered a 6-3 defeat at the Etihad in the opening game of the Champions League group stage, and he’s all too aware of the size of the task facing 16th-placed Leeds in Saturday’s 5.30pm kick-off.

“Now the best team in the world, for me, comes to Elland Road,” he said this week.

“I know this season already, one of my teams has played against Man City and I know what a challenge that game is, I know how difficult it is to limit their best players from making good plays and their movement and ideas of what to do with the ball.”

Under Marsch, Leeds have sought to adopt a more solid defensive structure, playing in a more narrow system to eliminate the space teams previously used to attack down the middle.

That has meant that the majority of dangerous moments have come via opposition full-backs and wingers, but Leeds do now boast back-to-back cleansheets and have conceded only four goals in their last five games.

Against Manchester City, Marsch’s men will need to produce something superhuman in terms of effort, organisation and quality when they do get the ball.

The latter was notably absent for large periods of the win at Watford and for the vast majority of Monday’s 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace so, if they are to pick up what feels like an unlikely result, a big improvement in possession is called for.

“We will have to be incredibly effective and clear of how we want to play against the ball, we will have to find ways to control the game with the ball a little bit more and then in transition moments be more dangerous and more effective, and still on set-pieces find a way to be more aggressive,” added Marsch.