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Kalvin Phillips: 'We must only focus on ourselves'

Kalvin Phillips: 'We must only focus on ourselves'
© Reuters
United have a six-point lead over third-placed Brentford.

Kalvin Phillips insists he pays no attention to Leeds' Sky Bet Championship promotion rivals in the race for a top-two finish.

West Brom moved to within a point of Leeds after winning 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in midweek, while third-placed Brentford are five points further back.

Leeds will bid to extend their lead at the top at Blackburn on Saturday and Phillips said that was all he was interested in.

"To be honest I didn't even watch it (West Brom)," Phillips said. "I don't even know the score. What was the score?

"I try not to look at the other results, I try to just focus on our games and how we're doing and not focus on anybody else.

"I'd rather not know. It just adds more pressure if we feel teams are creeping up behind us. I'd rather not think about it."

Phillips' approach is understandable after Leeds' play-off disappointment last season, while there were clear signs of frustration among Marcelo Bielsa's players during Tuesday night's 1-1 home draw against Luton.

Leeds were denied the chance of moving six points clear at the top and Phillips said the players had since had a clear-the-air meeting.

"We were speaking about it yesterday as a team," said Phillips.

"Luton came to not get beat and came to frustrate us and just sat back.

"As a team we find it more comfortable going at a team that's coming at us, catching them on the counter attack and just having a good battle.

"With Luton it frustrated us a little bit, you kind of saw that towards the end of the game, us players arguing and stuff. It's not really in our nature to start arguing between ourselves.

"We had a talk (on Wednesday) and said no matter what happens, as long as we're confident in ourselves and as a team we've got to keep on fighting to try and get results.

"We've just got to be more accurate, be more consistent with the passes that we're using to go forward and try not to be wasteful of chances."

Phillips said both skipper Liam Cooper (glute) and Stuart Dallas (hamstring) had not joined in with the rest of the squad since sustaining injuries against Luton, but neither player had been ruled out of Saturday's trip to Ewood Park.

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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Leeds UnitedLeeds26158348192953
2Burnley27141123192253
3Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd26166436171952
4Sunderland27149439221751
5Blackburn RoversBlackburn2612683123842
6Middlesbrough26118743321141
7West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom26913432211140
8Watford26115103637-138
9Bristol City2691073330337
10Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds2610793840-237
11Norwich CityNorwich269984337636
12Swansea CitySwansea2697103030034
13Queens Park RangersQPR2671182934-532
14Millwall257992423130
15Preston North EndPreston2661282834-630
16Coventry CityCoventry2678113437-329
17Oxford UnitedOxford Utd2678112941-1229
18Derby CountyDerby2676133135-427
19Stoke CityStoke2669112432-827
20Luton TownLuton2674152744-1725
21Cardiff CityCardiff2659122641-1524
22Hull City2658132536-1123
23Portsmouth2558123044-1423
24Plymouth ArgylePlymouth2649132554-2921


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