David Woods

Wed 19 February 2020 7:40, UK

Leeds United got back to winning ways against Bristol City last Saturday and have another very winnable game ahead at Elland Road this weekend.

It’s another 3pm kick-off on Saturday, this time against 15th-placed Reading, who have only won one in their last five.

That was last time out though, with an impressive 3-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday.

Mark Bowen plays a 4-2-3-1 so Marcelo Bielsa will get to play his preferred 4-1-4-1 formation, with Patrick Bamford almost certainly set to lead the line again.

Jean-Kevin Augustin might be fit but he’s still not Bielsa fit and the only man who knows what that means is unlikely to make changes to his attack, despite Bamford only scoring in one game in the last nine.

Bielsa doesn’t change his teams at the best of times, let alone after such a dominating win.

However, we think he’s going to be forced into one change.

Kiko Casilla is in the middle of his FA hearing at the moment and Athletic journalist Phil Hay thinks it’s ‘highly likely’ that he will be banned.

That would mean a minimum of six games out and that would lead to 19-year-old Illan Meslier stepping up.

Many Leeds fans have been calling for that anyway after a recent string of blunders from Casilla, but we don’t hold with that.

Meslier played well in his one senior appearance for Leeds, in the FA Cup against Arsenal, but he’s untested in the Championship where the pressure is much higher.

We think Casilla in goal with Meslier as stand-in is a much better proposition than Meslier in goal and untested 18-year-old Elia Caprile on the bench.

We hope Casilla isn’t banned but on the balance of probabilities, we think that’s where things could stand on Saturday.

In other Leeds United news, ‘Can’t wait to see him in a Leeds shirt’ – These fans react to Phil Hay tweet: ‘Outstanding’