Kalvin Phillips shares when he might be able to play again for Leeds amid injury blow
Kalvin Phillips has revealed that he might not be able to play again for Leeds United for at least three weeks as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
England international Phillips, 24, missed Leeds’ 3-0 win at Aston Villa on Friday and initially it was feared that he won’t be available until early December.
However, in an interview with the Leeds That podcast, the holding midfielder confirmed that he could be back in time to play against Arsenal on November 22.
“It’s getting better,” he said, as quoted by LeedsLive. “I’ve been injured for about a week now, so hopefully I’m aiming for three to four weeks, but if it’s not ready then I’ll have to aim for a bit longer.”
Leeds have proven that they can win matches without Phillips but my word, that doesn’t mean we want to do without him for the whole of November.
Hopefully, he will be back in time to play against Arsenal because that would be a great game for him to show what he’s made of versus one of the Premier League big-six sides.
Leeds have some tough matches after the Gunners too with games against Everton, Chelsea, West Ham, Newcastle and Manchester United following it.
If Phillips is available it will be a major boost to our chances of getting results but if not, Leeds have shown they can cope.
Not only did the Whites win without Phillips last week at Villa Park, but they also won seven of the nine Championship matches he was either injured or suspended for last season.
Admittedly, most of those wins were against teams who struggled in the 2019/20 Championship like Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Barnsley and Charlton but the fact remains that Phillips isn’t irreplaceable.
Pascal Struijk started in the deep-lying midfield role against Villa on Friday before being substituted off early on.
It remains to be seen whether he’ll retain that spot or someone else will come in but we’d like to see more of the youth Dutchman because he can perform well there.
In other Leeds United news, Gabriel Agbonlahor tells a Leeds fan to “grow up” as a war of words continues with the ex-Villa man.