Marsch must place trust in "unbelievable" Leeds sensation, he thrives "under pressure" - opinion

Leeds United just about kept their Premier League survival hopes alive on Sunday, with Pascal Struijk’s 92nd-minute header seeing the Whites take a point from their meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion – a result that moved Jesse Marsch’s side out of the relegation zone with just one fixture left to play in 2021/22.

However, with both 18th placed Burnley and 16th placed Everton boasting a game in hand over the Whites, Leeds’ chance of securing survival is not in their own hands just yet, although an Aston Villa victory against the Clarets this Thursday will present Marsch’s men the opportunity to seal their own fate on the final day.

And, if the Whites do end up finding themselves in a position where a final day victory would secure their Premier League status for a further year, and Patrick Bamford remains unavailable for selection – something that Phil Hay suggested could be a possibility – against Brentford, it would appear a must for the 48-year-old manager to place his trust in Joe Gelhardt to lead the Leeds line at the Brentford Community Stadium.

Indeed, the 20-year-old centre-forward has so often been the player to salvage something for the Whites over the course of the current campaign, winning a last-gasp penalty after a driving run into the box in the 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers back in October, scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory over Norwich City despite spending just a minute on the pitch back in March and, most recently, providing the assist for Struijk to head home in the dying moments of the 1-1 draw on Sunday.

However, the England U21 international’s involvement in last weekend’s equaliser was far from a regular assist, with the £4.5m-rated forward bringing the ball down under pressure in the