Ian Wright: Kalvin Phillips will be a miss for Leeds United
Ian Wright claims Kalvin Phillips is “going to be a miss” for Leeds United after the midfielder missed the 2-0 defeat at Brighton on Saturday.
Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck were both on the scoresheet for Graham Potter’s side at the AMEX as Marcelo Bielsa’s men suffered without the influential Phillips in their midfield.
Ahead of the match, Bielsa told Amazon Prime that Phillips had “picked up a knock behind his knee“.
Arsenal legend Wright suggests he thinks Phillips’ absence is a blow for the Yorkshire club.
“No Kalvin Phillips, obviously he’s going to be a miss for them [and] no Raphinha,” said Wright on BBC’s Match of the Day on Saturday night.
No Phillips, no party
Leeds have struggled whenever Phillips has been missing from action.
The 25-year-old has made 25 Premier League appearances for Leeds this season, missing nine games due to injuries.
Out of those nine games, Leeds have lost seven of them and won only twice. They’ve also been on the receiving end of heavy defeats to Crystal Palace, Leicester and Arsenal when the England international has been ruled out.
Phillips is vital to the way Leeds play, simply because there’s no one else in the side that can do the job he can.
Pascal Struijk can play in the defensive midfield position and he can put in a decent shift there. However, he’s just not got the eye for a pass that Phillips has and that means the team is usually ineffective in possession.
We need Phillips back as soon as possible.
Wright’s claim on Match of the Day suggests that Phillips is going to be out for more than just the game against Brighton.
Let’s hope he’s wrong and the knock isn’t serious.
In other Leeds United news, this ITV journalist has blasted Leeds’ official Twitter account after a tweet was posted.