Bamford likely to play through pain barrier in Leeds clash v Fulham tonight
Patrick Bamford is likely to play through the pain barrier when Leeds United take on Fulham at Craven Cottage tonight (Friday), according to Graham Smyth.
Writing on the Yorkshire Evening Post website, the journalist claimed that Bamford’s England snub could be viewed as beneficial for the striker and for Leeds due to the injury he suffered playing Chelsea last week.
As quoted by Leeds Live, Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed Bamford has a knock to his hip but doesn’t think he’ll miss the game at Craven Cottage.
Unlikely to play full 90
Bamford has been in superb form for Leeds this term, scoring 13 goals so far in his first season back in the Premier League.
Only Mohamed Salah, Bruno Fernandes, Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have outscored the Leeds United star in the Premier League this season.
He was always going to be in the running for the England squad but has been pipped to the post by Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.
He’s also had a good season, to be fair, and isn’t carrying a knock like Bamford is.
Although there was a lot of anger from Leeds fans over Bamford’s snub, we have to view this as a potential blessing in disguise because he’ll have a couple of weeks off to rest and recuperate after Friday’s clash with Fulham.
He’s unlikely to get a full 90 minutes under his belt at Craven Cottage.
Rodrigo might come off the bench in the second half at some point, possibly around the hour-mark, to replace Bamford, who simply cannot get injured.
Rodrigo’s the club’s most expensive signing as is more naturally a striker than a midfielder. It would be good to see him get some game-time there but we’d rather see Bamford spearheading the attack after what we’ve seen from him this season.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites look set to miss out on signing this Spain player in the summer.