Daniel Farke is hoping Leeds United can enjoy the luck of the FA Cup after feeling the "injustices" of the Premier League.
The Whites are at West Ham United on Sunday afternoon knowing victory will set up their first FA Cup semi-final since 1987.
Both sides, who meet again at the London Stadium on the final weekend of the Premier League season, are embroiled in a relegation battle, despite manager Farke arguing Leeds deserve to be comfortably in mid-table, striving for an unlikely European qualification.
He hopes the misfortune he believes has held them back in the league can be repaid in the cup.
INJUSTICES: Leeds United manager Daniel Farke (Image: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)placeholder image
INJUSTICES: Leeds United manager Daniel Farke (Image: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
So far Leeds have only drawn Championship opposition in the Cup, and they required some bad Ibrahim Osman misses and a penalty shoot-out to scape past Birmingham City in round four.
"The first topic is definitely to stay up," stressed manager Farke, who may play it safe with striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who had a scan on his hamstring this week.
"To be in the quarter-final is already a good achievement, but if you can progress further on, it would mean a lot, of course.
"Sometimes you ask yourself, when you have a look at what we've done – our statistics, and you look also at not just subjective feelings, but also on the objective data, on the matrixes – where we should be in terms of expected points table.
RED CARD: Thomas Bramall shows a red card to Gabriel Gudmundsson at Crystal Palace (Image: Glyn KIRK / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
RED CARD: Thomas Bramall shows a red card to Gabriel Gudmundsson at Crystal Palace (Image: Glyn KIRK / AFP via Getty Images)
"Due to the performances we should be comfortable in mid-table.
"We should be already on – whatever – 44 points (they are on 33) and we just need to worry if there is perhaps a late push for Europe, rather fighting against relegation.
"Sometimes you ask yourself, why is that? Why are we not already on the amount of points that we would deserve?
"And why do we get at the moment, on a more or less weekly basis, a letter, from the Premier League to apologise for this decision, a red card, or this decision was not a penalty, or this decision where the goal should stand.
"We're so often unlucky.
"Or why don't we win the game – like against Sunderland. Sunderland had, I think, 0.95 expected goals.
"We gave a calamity penalty away, we get apologising letters for not being rewarded with a penalty, and you have to ask yourself why is it always so difficult?"
"I know the normal answer is always, 'Yeah, it's Leeds, we never do it the easy way,' but I hope also for a bit of luck in the other competition."
With seven league games to play, Leeds are four points above West Ham, who are in the third relegation place. The sides meet again at the London Stadium in the final match of the season.
The Key Match Incidents panel ruled the officials should have given a penalty against Luke O'Nien in Leeds' 1-0 defeat at home to Sunderland last month, and that Gabriel Gudmundsson was wrongly sent off in the 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, where Calvert-Lewin missed a penalty.
"Perhaps we have to suffer a bit like this in order to be rewarded with something different, and this is also what I have a bit in my mind," said Farke.
"Perhaps we'll get this little bit of extra luck in the FA Cup.
"I don't ask for luck – with luck we would be on 60 points, if it just would be normal, we would be in our mid-40s.
"Perhaps we deserve this little bit of luck in order to write history in the other competition.
"This is what I'm hoping for, and of course it would be massive, but the most important topic is that we stay in the league."
But just because Farke places Premier League survival – with all its financial implications – as his top priority does not mean he is taking the FA Cup lightly, he insists.
The only time the Whites have won the competition was 54 years ago, and they have not even reached a semi-final since 1987.
"I'm a big believer in the cup competition," he said. "It's the first time in over two decades that we are in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
"We know that we all have the chance to write a bit more history for this club.
"On the other hand, it makes no sense just to put the players into cotton wool for three weeks, just to have them not injured.
"For the next game on a Monday night away at Man U, it doesn't work in this way.
"They need to stay in the rhythm, they need to stay sharp.
"It makes no sense to rest too many players. We want to go with a strong starting line-up without doing anything stupid.
"If you got the feeling someone is a risk due to some physical problems or whatever, we won't risk it.
"West Ham are like us also a bit like in the relegation battle but they have played the last decade more or less at Premier League level.
"We take this game very seriously. We are on it and want to prepare in the best possible way."
"It's always a bit tricky, the first game after the international break but it will be the same for West Ham. I want us to go strong and progress into the next round."
The match, the final game of quarter-final weekend, will be played to a finish, with extra-time and penalties if needed. It kicks off at 4.30pm.