PRESTON: EVANS KEEN TO BUILD MOMENTUM

PRESTON: EVANS KEEN TO BUILD MOMENTUM

The head coach previews Sunday's Elland Road clash...

Steve Evans is hoping to keep his side’s positive momentum rolling when Preston North End visit Elland Road this Sunday (3pm).

Having picked up seven points from a possible nine in December so far, United have climbed within touching distance of the top half of the Sky Bet Championship table.

Simon Grayson’s Preston, who Leeds leapfrogged in the league with Thursday’s victory at Wolves, are unbeaten in their last four outings and arrive at Elland Road with just one point separating the two sides.

“It’s going to be tough,” Evans said. “Preston are a team who don’t concede many goals.

“Simon will get a warm reception from the Leeds United family and so he should, like any manager who goes somewhere and wins promotion.

“They’ve got some special players in their team and they’ve had a couple of great wins, but we’d like to think that a positive result will set us up really well for the 27th at Forest.

“We want a busy Elland Road with the fans at home - you have seen what the players think of the fans that travelled to Wolves.

“They asked if they could put their shirts into the crowd and now I am going to get charged for about eight or 10 shirts!”

Reflecting on Thursday’s victory at Molineux, Evans added: “I’ve always maintained that Leeds United should be winning games in the Championship.

“We’re working hard to fully assess what we’ve got here in the playing group.

“I said to the owner when I first came in that I felt there were a lot of players written off. Big Souley Doukara was one of them.

“I’m not saying he’s suddenly a Leeds United player now, he’s got a lot of points to prove.

“He was Man of the Match at Wolves but you can’t just have one of them and expect to stay at Leeds United. You’ve got to have consistency.

“The message to the group is that we need consistency and we want players in who can deliver consistency – that’s the plan.

“But I love every one of those boys. They’ve received me really well.

“There’s not one in that group who’s a bad apple. If there was, I’d have them thrown out.”

Tom Adeyemi is the only fresh United doubt for Sunday’s clash after the midfielder was substituted during the first half of Thursday night’s victory away to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

“I thought he looked absolutely on his feet after five minutes,” Evans explained. “He couldn’t track one of their runners and I made the substitution.

“The medical team went over and said ‘he’s feeling a little bit lethargic but he’s fine’ but I had made my decision before the medical staff went on.

“That big fella has obviously got a little virus in his system or something like that because he has been awesome in the times he has played apart from one other game.”

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