The last four years have seen a season-on-season decrease in the number of points needed for survival in the Premier League.
Going off what the highest-placed relegated team accumulated, 36 points would have been enough in the 2021/22 season. Within the 2023/23 campaign that slipped to 35.
During the 2023/24 campaign, in which all three promoted clubs were relegated, 27 points would have secured safety. Last season it sank to 26, with all three new clubs going straight back down once again.
Who knows what the number will be this season but the gap from 17th to 18th last term ended up being 13 points - the biggest amount across the relegation line in Premier League history.
It is becoming more and more difficult to become the 17th best club in England. Daniel Farke knows this well having faced top-flight tribulation at Norwich City, albeit in much different circumstances.
The German now has a bit of money behind his transfer policy and a more stable core base than he ever had in East Anglia. Farke has noted how he had to deal with a Canaries squad containing players who had never played in the Premier League before nor since.
He has at least a handful of players at Leeds United who have enjoyed a Premier League season before, though not copious amounts. Perhaps just as importantly, then, Farke himself has knowledge of the Premier League and can apply the lessons he learned from his time in it.
Leeds are, naturally, set to adopt a more cautious tactical approach this season with the Whites set to be on the back foot in most games - but the philosophy of possession and progression very much remains where possible.
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In conjunction with the 49ers, his summer philosophy so far has been clear with three of the four signings over towering six foot tall - though, admittedly, it is rare to find a centre-half under that height nowadays and two of the new arrivals are indeed centre-backs.
The regime is nevertheless employing a policy where players in each position carry the same characteristics for that role. The arrival of Lukas Nmecha, also over six foot, indicates what type of marquee centre-forward they are after.
All of this is being done, sources outline, with the aim of winning 10 games next season as the guide metric. Thirty points would have been enough for survival in three of the past six seasons and two in the last three.
Of course wins do not account for the full picture and there will be hope that 10 wins accompany draws, rather than there being an explicit 30-point target. A total of 36 points would have seen a club survive in each of the past nine seasons.
That would essentially mean not losing more than 22 of the 38 games - though Leeds only lost 21 matches three seasons ago and were still relegated after winning just seven and drawing 10. That's why the number of victories matter.
No club has won 10 Premier League games and gone down since Cardiff City in the 2018/19 season - but they ended up losing 24 matches with just four draws. Every point matters, every win matters.
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While scalps against the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City are unlikely and essentially free hits given the scope in quality, it is the games against the clubs that are around them in the table which will matter most.
Beat the two fellow promoted clubs home and away and that’s four wins. Could United win six more of their other 17 home games in front of a raucous Elland Road? It seems feasible if hardly easy.
Each win should be treated like a poignant event, a special result that keeps the countdown ticking. Conversely - and obviously - if United cannot win a game, do not lose it.
After all, it might take three draws to cover for a defeat they should have won. Having a clear threshold crystallises the objective for everyone at the club. Clarity is king.
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