Leeds United youngster Pascal Struijk made sure he was ready for Burnley's Chris Wood, now turns attention to West Brom

Pascal Struijk made sure he was ready for the challenge Burnley faced, studying videos of Chris Wood in preparation to face the former Leeds United striker.
MAKING SURE - Pascal Struijk watched videos of Chris Wood in preparation for Leeds United's battle with Burnley and is now focused on making sure they beat West Brom tomorrow night. Pic: GettyMAKING SURE - Pascal Struijk watched videos of Chris Wood in preparation for Leeds United's battle with Burnley and is now focused on making sure they beat West Brom tomorrow night. Pic: Getty
MAKING SURE - Pascal Struijk watched videos of Chris Wood in preparation for Leeds United's battle with Burnley and is now focused on making sure they beat West Brom tomorrow night. Pic: Getty

And having passed the test, with three points and a clean sheet to show for it, Struijk is now focused on making sure he is ready to go out and beat West Brom in a game that follows hot on the heels of the last one.

Sunday’s game was a difficult encounter for the Dutch youngster and his team-mates, Burnley fighting to the very end for an equaliser that never came, thanks chiefly to Leeds’ rugged defending.

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“Good to get a clean sheet but very tough, solid side,” said Struijk.

“I think overall we had a good performance.”

It needed to be good, defensively, because the Clarets repeatedly asked questions of the Whites through aerial balls into the area.

Struijk knew what was coming.

“I got a couple videos of [Wood], how his game is,” said the centre-half.

“Going into the game I made sure I was prepared to fight for the aerials.

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“Especially in the last few seconds, I think there were two free-kicks and four corners and everyone came up, but no goals so that’s good.

“I think it shows different sides to our game. We still try to attack but, against an organised side as Burnley, it made it quite difficult.”

Struijk formed part of a three-man central defence alongside Kalvin Phillips and Luke Ayling and was pleased with how they fared as a unit.

“There are two strikers so we always make sure we have one spare,” he said.

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“I think the communication between us was good and I think we won most of our duels.

“We had two big chances, if we make them it would have made the game a lot easier, good saves from the goalkeeper though.”

Leeds face West Brom tomorrow night on two days rest and Struijk is keen to make it two wins in quick succession.

“We need to make sure we win that one as well,” said Struijk. “Short time to recover but we need to make sure we’re ready to go.”