‘Subconsciously’ - Sam Allardyce hints at Leeds United advantage amid Everton relegation battle

Sam Allardyce is hoping that West Ham's qualification to the Europa Conference League final can give Leeds United an advantage in the Premier League relegation battle.

Leeds are currently rooted to the bottom three with just two games of the season remaining. The Whites sit 18th in the table - just one point and one place behind Everton.

The Toffees have a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers today and can pile the pressure on Leeds ahead of their clash against West Ham on Sunday.

The Hammers reached the Europa Conference League final earlier this week having defeated AZ Alkmaar 3-1 on aggregate. They'll play Fiorentina in the final on Wednesday 7 June. And Allardyce is hopeful that the West Ham players will have that showpiece in their back of their mind and may play more tentatively against Leeds.

The Elland Road interim manager, asked what the best possible result was about West Ham edging past AZ Alkmaar, replied: “Winning. There's no doubt about that. That means they have a final to think about and subconsciously, you'll never know whether that may affect the players in terms of when they go out and play.

“They’ll go out and try their best but subconsciously they won’t want to get injured. Certainly one would worry that I wouldn't want to miss a final so there might be a little more tentative, who knows. My job is about my team playing to the best they possibly can play whatever team we face against West Ham that that's good enough to try and win the game.”