Phil Hay suggests Junior Firpo and Adam Forshaw set for Leeds United bench v Norwich City
Phil Hay suggests Adam Forshaw and Junior Firpo are set for bench duties today as Leeds United prepare to face Norwich City at Carrow Road.
Forshaw, 30, made his second start of the season on Tuesday as Leeds lost 2-0 at Arsenal in the League Cup.
His performance at the Emirates Stadium led a Leeds fan to ask Hay on The Athletic’s pre-match discussion page whether he could be handed a start today, but Hay appears to have quashed that suggestion. He wrote: “I suspect he’ll be on the bench.”
Firpo, meanwhile, has missed the last three games through injury, though the 25-year-old did accrue minutes for the Under-23 side last Sunday.
Hay said Firpo’s situation is an “interesting one”, but stopped short of backing him for a start at Norwich.
“[He] should be in the squad today,” Hay wrote. “I wonder if Bielsa might hold him back.”
Big calls
Marcelo Bielsa faces some tough team selection issues today as he bids to stop the Leeds rot.
After a long-awaited Premier League victory at home to Watford on October 2, the Whites remain without one since, losing 1-0 at Southampton in their next fixture before a 1-1 Elland Road draw against Wolves.
The midweek League Cup loss to Arsenal compounded the club’s current woes, and a trip to bottom side Norwich takes on even greater significance now.
The Canaries are winless in nine Premier League games thus far, and failure to pick up all three points today would see considerable questions asked of Leeds after the game.
With the likes of Firpo and Raphinha returning to the squad, and Kalvin Phillips making his first start since October 2 in midweek, Bielsa has options from which to choose, but he must be wary of handing too many starts to players without full match fitness.
How he handles that could go a long way to determining whether Leeds claim victory in East Anglia this afternoon.
In other Leeds United news, UFC star ‘Paddy the Baddy’ was embroiled in an ugly Twitter spat with Whites supporters on Saturday night amid sick online jibes.