MOT View: Bielsa to make one big change; injury forces hand – Predicted Leeds XI v Cardiff

MOT View: Bielsa to make one big change; injury forces hand – Predicted Leeds XI v Cardiff

David Woods

Dave is a huge Leeds fan and ardent disciple of Bielsa ball. A career in print magazines that included editing PC Zone, launching PokerPlayer and redesigning The Big Issue has finally led Dave to writing about the love of his life, Leeds United. It’s been a tough 2020 but the single scariest moment was the first quarter of the game against Man City. Rodrigo will be the saviour this season.

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Six days to go until Leeds United take to the pitch again!

After three months out the Championship is back on Saturday, with Leeds' promotion rivals Fulham getting things underway as they welcome Brentford to Craven Cottage.

West Brom play Birmingham in the 3pm kick-off.

Leeds United fans have to wait until the early kick-off on Sunday to see how Marcelo Bielsa's men have coped over lockdown.

The hope is that they'll pick up where they left off in the Championship – on a run of five wins without conceding a goal.

We think that Marcelo Bielsa will make just the one change from the team that beat Huddersfield 2-0 back on March 7 – but it's a big one.

Cardiff play one up top and that means Bielsa should play his preferred 4-1-4-1.

The first '1' will be Kalvin Phillips who will come back in for Gaetano Berardi, with the dependable and combustible defender dropping to the bench.

Elsewhere, it should be business as usual, as long as Leeds don't rack up any injuries or pick up any positive tests this week.

There might have been a debate about strikers Jean-Kevin Augustin and Patrick Bamford.

However, an injury to Augustin means that Bamford is almost certain to start up front. Tyler Roberts will be the impact sub if Bamford fluffs his lines in front of goal.

The one slight doubt is Pablo Hernandez. We haven't seen him back in training yet and there have been a few rumours about him picking up an injury.

That's not been confirmed by any reliable source, though, and we hope he's just playing shy.

If he does drop out, Roberts could get the chance to start.

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