'Fifty years' - Javi Gracia on Leeds United target, Arsenal bid and job admission

Gracia will take in his sixth game as Whites head coach today when his 14th-placed side visit Premier League leaders Arsenal. Mikel Arteta’s side hold an eight-point lead at the top of the division and have ten games left to achieve their target of becoming champions of England for the first time since 2004.

Gracia’s days as a player were coming to an end when the Gunners last won the league as the Spaniard then embarked on a career in management which has taken him to Leeds in what is now his 13th job as a manager or head coach.

Arsenal’s target might be to win the league but Gracia is in no mood to discuss the potential size of the achievement for the Gunners should they beat Pep Guardiola’s City side to the Premier League crown. Gracia says his only focus is on achieving his own target – but has quipped that even at 52 years of age it’s still difficult to enjoy the job.

Asked how much of an achievement it would be should Arsenal be able to win the league, Gracia pondered: “This is something for them. They have to speak about the importance for them.

"I am trying to get my target. My target is to try to remain with this amazing club in the Premier League next year and this is what I can tell you. I don't like to speak about money, I don't like to speak about other clubs because I don't know the circumstances the different clubs have."

Pressed then on how much he was enjoying life at Leeds – how he had settled on and off the pitch – Gracia smiled: "Me? I try to enjoy it. It's not easy! When I started I thought maybe when you have more experience you can enjoy more because you can give importance to different things. But now I can tell you that after more than 50 years training I suffer more and I enjoy less! I enjoy less and I suffer more, for sure."