Leeds United host West Ham on Friday as they bid to bounce back from defeat to Burnley
James Smailes
06:00, 22 Oct 2025
Kyle Walker of Burnley
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Kyle Walker of Burnley
Burnley defender Kyle Walker says the importance of victory for his side over Leeds United was not lost on anyone. Hailing the game a proverbial "six pointer", Walker's assessment of how important victory was in the match-up of last season's promoted sides, only serves to increase the frustration the Whites never managed to get anything from a game they often dominated.
The 2-0 victory at Turf Moor lifted the Clarets out of the relegation zone and put them just a point behind Leeds in what is threatening to become a congested bottom third of the league ladder.
Leeds now head into Friday night's match at home to West Ham United with the pressure raised following successive defeats and being without a win in four games.
Having snapped their own losing streak, Burnley are much more confident, and that change in fortune and belief is why the game last Saturday was so important for the Clarets, says Walker.
“We’re not going to hide from it, it was a six-pointer, especially with it being at home," Walker told the club's media channel.
“We need to make sure we take the three points in these games, so to come out with a clean sheet and a good performance is full credit to the lads “We’ve worked so hard over the international break. The manager has put his stamp on where he thinks we can hurt them and I thought we played an effective game.
“We look forward to next week, hopefully we can get the same result and we say it’s a good end to the month.”
With the game having a sense of being so important to both before kick-off. how Leeds respond at home to the Hammers is now even more important as they line up against yet another relegation candidate.
“We knew the importance of this game coming into it,” added Walker.
“The first six or seven fixtures we’ve had have been difficult ones, but I think we’ve handled it well. We’ve taken a lot of lessons and learning curves from it.
“We put that into action here and we keep a clean sheet and score two goals, which were both crackers to be fair.
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