Craig Scott

Tue 3 March 2020 15:30, UK

Leeds United moved within one point of Championship leaders West Brom at the weekend with an impressive 4-0 win away at Hull City.

Although the Baggies had been in flying form in February, their unbeaten run came to a screeching halt at the hands of Wigan at The Hawthorns as the Latics earn a surprise 1-0 win in the Black Country.

West Brom manager Slaven Bilic had not made many changes to his starting line-up in February as he aimed for a Marcelo Bielsa-level of consistency but Saturday’s match against Wigan seemed to be too much for his over-worked squad.

Losing to Wigan wasn’t the only blow that West Brom suffered at the weekend as commanding centre-back Ahmed Hegazi suffered an injury in that defeat.

As quoted by the Birmingham Mail, Bilic has confirmed that the Egypt international, who had just hit a good run of form in the Albion defence, has suffered a hamstring injury that could leave him sidelined for some time.

And that is not what Bilic needs as West Brom face a midweek fixture against Newcastle United in the FA Cup.

West Brom are the only team pushing for promotion from the Championship who are still in the FA Cup and this match has kind of come at an inconvenient time for them.

Playing against Newcastle at The Hawthorns is certainly a winnable game when Steve Bruce’s side is in such poor form and with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs, there’s a good chance Bilic will want to name a strong team.

But if he did that, he would only be contributing to one of the issues that led to the Baggies losing against Wigan at the weekend.

Whether he makes wholesale changes or not, Bilic is bound to be forced into playing some of his mainstays against Newcastle and Hegazi’s injury setback isn’t going to help matters with Kyle Bartley and Semi Ajayi likely to be his centre-back pairing.

All of this could help Leeds out at the top of the table.

Although a second-placed finish will be the stuff of dreams, taking top spot off West Brom and going up as champions would cap off one of the greatest and most important seasons in the club’s history.

If any of Leeds’ promotion rivals drop points then that’s a plus point as an extended dip in form in the Championship could see the Baggies fall into the clutches of the chasing pack.

They do not need this match against Newcastle but Bielsa’s men will be loving the week-long break from playing and should be at full pelt against Huddersfield come Saturday.

In other Leeds United news, a BBC journalist has detailed why the FA are yet to release their written reasons for Kiko Casilla’s ban.