Confirmed Leeds United starting XI v Liverpool
Leeds United have confirmed their starting XI for the Premier League visit to Liverpool tonight, with two changes seeing Raphinha and Junior Firpo start.
The Whites come into the game off the back in 15th, and off a 4-2 loss to Manchester United where they came back from two goals down before conceding twice more.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men haven’t won for over a month since picking up three points at West Ham, with only an exhilarating draw at Aston Villa to show for their efforts since then.
The two to drop out from the Red Devils loss are Robin Koch who suffered a bad head injury in a collision with Scott McTominay and Diego Llorente in defence.
The starting XI is therefore Illan Meslier behind a back four of Firpo on the left, Stuart Dallas on the right and Luke Ayling alongside Pascal Striujk in the middle.
Adam Forshaw partners Mateusz Klich in midfield with an attacking three Raphinha, who scored last time out after being dropped from the starting XI, Rodrigo and Jack Harrison ahead of them, and Dan James as the central striker.
Crunch time
Fans are becoming increasingly nervous with the club sitting only five points clear of the relegation zone with two thirds of the season gone.
A visit to Jurgen Klopp’s title-chasing side would not be what most people would choose when desperately in need of points.
However, considering the limp defeats to Newcastle and Everton in recent weeks it would seem relegation six-pointers are not what the Whites need either.
Despite the eventual result there was at least significantly more fight in the players in the defeat to Ralf Rangnick’s side, and if Bielsa could bottle the spirit that saw his men score twice in under 30 seconds to draw level he would be safe from here on.
Tottenham, fresh from defeating table-toppers Manchester City away are next up after tonight so it doesn’t get any easier yet.
United visit Anfield as major underdogs so anything they can get from the game would be a bonus, but in happier times they have shown they can upset the Premier League giants.
In other Leeds United news, this highly-rated youngster is tipped to quit if the club go down.