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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
1Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd21145230111945
2Leeds UnitedLeeds21126337152242
3Sunderland21117332171540
4Burnley2010822471738
5Blackburn RoversBlackburn2011452517837
6Middlesbrough21104735251034
7West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom2071122314932
8Watford199462725231
9Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds218582630-429
10Swansea CitySwansea217682322127
11Bristol City216962626027
12Norwich CityNorwich206863530526
13Millwall206772018225
14Derby CountyDerby216692626024
15Coventry CityCoventry216692730-324
16Preston North EndPreston2141162127-623
17Stoke CityStoke215792328-522
18Queens Park RangersQPR2141072127-622
19Luton TownLuton2164112337-1422
20Oxford UnitedOxford Utd2046102133-1218
21Cardiff CityCardiff2046101932-1318
22Portsmouth193882134-1317
23Plymouth ArgylePlymouth2045111942-2317
24Hull City2137111930-1116


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