Jamie Shackleton and Lewis Bate with Leeds United squad for clash v Chelsea
LeedsLive journalist Beren Cross spotted Jamie Shackleton and Lewis Bate with the Leeds United squad as they arrived at Elland Road on Wednesday night.
Leeds play Chelsea in the first of their final three matches of the Premier League season as Jesse Marsch aims to stop the Whites being relegated back to the Championship.
With numerous injuries and selection issues plaguing Marsch’s options, it looks as though he’s going to turn to two of his rarely-seen players to help him out with Bate, 19, and Shackleton, 22, in the squad.
Shackleton to start?
We’ll see when the official team news is announced an hour before kick-off but there’s a good chance that Shackleton will be in the starting line-up for Leeds when they play against Chelsea.
Stuart Dallas’ fractured femur means he’ll miss the game while Luke Ayling’s mindless red card at Arsenal means he’s suspended for this game and the remaining two this season.
Shackleton has a lot of experience of playing at right-back despite being a natural central midfielder.
However, Marsch has not given the young player any game-time at all in the senior side since he replaced Marcelo Bielsa as the manager at Elland Road.
In fact, Shackleton’s last appearance for Leeds came in Bielsa’s final game in charge against Tottenham on 26 February.
Bate, on the other hand, has played just two times in the Premier League this season with is most recent appearance coming when he was substituted on at half-time against Arsenal at the weekend.
The ex-Chelsea youngster gave a good account of himself.
Will he start against his former club on Wednesday night?
We’ll have to wait and see.
In other Leeds news, Jonathan Woodgate shares hope Leeds United will survive and if he would’ve kept Marcelo Bielsa