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May 3, 2014 - London, United Kingdom - West Ham's Sam Allardyce celebrates his sides second goal..West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur - Barclays Premier League - Upton Park - London - UK - 03/05/2014

Sam Allardyce’s track record against Leeds’ final four opponents

Nestor Watach •

Sam Allardyce has the challenge of steering Leeds United to safety – he’s only got four games to do so, and it won’t be easy. The club face three of the current top six and two of his former clubs.

“I think that obviously they’re very difficult games; Man City, Newcastle, West Ham and Spurs,” Allardyce told talkSPORT after he was confirmed as Javi Gracia’s successor.

“You can all point out where the easiest fixture might be and of course, there are no easy fixtures in the Premier League, but we can only go and do what we can try and achieve.

“That certainly, from my point of view, means to see the lads stopping the goals going in.

“I think we’ve conceded 28 goals in the last 10 or 12 games, and the first thing that we’re going to have to do is to stop that if we’re gonna get out of trouble, because it means that we’re needing to score two and three goals every game to try and win it and if we’re left to do that, that would be nearly an impossible task.

“I’m doing all I can with the staff who are most important in the support they’re going to give to try and get the players out of trouble.”

Allardyce’s first match in charge of Leeds is away at league leaders Manchester City, who are on a run of nine successive Premier League wins.

Things have changed quite a bit at Man City since Allardyce first came up against them back in the old Second Division (third tier) whilst he was in charge of Notts County in the 1998-99 season.

He later led Bolton Wanderers to four successive wins over City between 2005 and 2006, but has only registered one win over the club since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover went through in 2008 – that was a 2-1 home victory for West Ham against Manuel Pellegrini’s side in October 2014.

The 68-year-old has a particularly poor record against Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering City side. He’s lost all four of his meetings with Guardiola, with his side’s conceding 16 and scoring just one in response.

Despite that, Allardyce has no shortage of confidence and isn’t cowed by the prospect of another tactical against the four-time Premier League winner.

“Far too many people think I am old and antiquated, which is so far from the truth,” Allardyce continued in his first press conference as Leeds boss.

“I may be 68 and look old but there’s nobody ahead of me in football terms, not Pep, not [Jurgen] Klopp, not [Mikel] Arteta, so it’s all there with me. I share what they do and I do what I do but in terms of knowledge and depth of knowledge, I’m up there with them – I’m not saying I’m better than them – but certainly as good as they are.”

“He’s right, I wanna be honest,” Guardiola responded following City’s 3-0 win over West Ham in midweek.

“Look what happened with Neil Warnock at Huddersfield. These [are] incredible managers. It looks like the young managers, with the tactics or whatever…

“But [the older managers] are really good, they help us be who we are, like Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace. They have incredible experience, they know the game perfectly.”

We’ve taken a look at Allardyce’s record against Leeds’ final four opponents – and their managers, if applicable – to see how the experienced coach has fared against them in the past.

Manchester City

Played: 34

Won: 6
Drawn: 5
Lost: 23

Goals Scored: 25
Goals Conceded: 74

Points Per Game: 0.68

Pep Guardiola

Played: 4

Won: 0
Drawn: 0
Lost: 4

Goals Scored: 1
Goals Conceded: 16

Points Per Game: 0.00

Newcastle United

Played: 25

Won: 13
Drawn: 5
Lost: 7

Goals Scored: 31
Goals Conceded: 26

Points Per Game: 1.76

Eddie Howe

Played: 5

Won: 1
Drawn: 2
Lost: 2

Goals Scored: 5
Goals Conceded: 7

Points Per Game: 1.00

West Ham

Played: 19

Won: 7
Drawn: 5
Lost: 7

Goals Scored: 31
Goals Conceded: 26

Points Per Game: 1.76

David Moyes

Played: 28

Won: 8
Drawn: 4
Lost: 16

Goals Scored: 34
Goals Conceded: 47

Points Per Game: 1.00

Tottenham

Played: 31

Won: 12
Drawn: 2
Lost: 17

Goals Scored: 41
Goals Conceded: 60

Points Per Game: 1.23

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