Confirmed Leeds starting XI v Chelsea
Leeds United have made three changes to their starting XI for their Premier League clash with Chelsea on Saturday afternoon.
After Monday’s 2-0 loss to West Ham that made it four defeats in five for the Whites Marcelo Bielsa has rung the changes in a bid to resurrect their poor form.
The big news is that captain Liam Cooper is missing from the side but Pascal Struijk returns to replace him despise missing the trip to East London and being expected to miss this game [Phil Hay, The Athletic].
There’s no word on why Cooper has missed out but it means Robin Koch has been pulled into the squad early. He was earmarked for the Under-23s on Monday.
The other two changes see Ezgjan Alioski and Jack Harrison replace Mateusz Klich and Helder Costa.
Confirmed on their Twitter account prior to kick-off, Rodrigo remains on the bench for the Whites despite his West Ham cameo.
The absence of Cooper will be a big blow but with Struijk back there is at least a recognised centre-back to partner Diego Llorente.
The talking points before the game centre around the potential inclusion of Rodrigo in the starting XI but he has been left out once again.
He made his return to action at the London Stadium on Monday following a six-game absence through injury and with Roberts failing to impress as his deputy it seemed logical to make the change but the Wales international keeps his place
Klich has also struggled in the midfield recently and that has cost him his starting spot.
Jack Harrison has been restricted to bench duty for the past three games with Helder Costa preferred in his place but they swap roles today.
Ezgjan Alioski is another who has been absent from the starting XI recently and he has not started since February 14 but he starts at left-back with Stuart Dallas set to move into midfield.
Leeds will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to West Ham where they looked threatening without ever troubling the goal on too many occasions.
Our inability to hit the net has been a recurring theme recently – we have drawn a blank in three of our last four games.
Patrick Bamford only has two in his last seven games and he will be desperate to get back on the goalscoring trail.
Even a win will see us remain rooted to 11th place in the Premier League table but it would draw us level on points with Arsenal as we make a late bid for the top 10.
It will be a difficult encounter at Elland Road, however, with Chelsea unbeaten under Thomas Tuchel since his January appointment, and they have kept nine clean sheets in 11 games under the German.
In other Leeds United news, Michael Owen predicts score in Chelsea clash.
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