View: Murderball session suggests Costa set to start for Leeds v West Ham
Under-23s left-back Leif Davis has delivered a rare video of Marcelo Bielsa’s infamous murderball sessions and there’s a big clue about tonight’s Leeds United starting XI for West Ham in there.
Davis might have been posting the video to show off his goal (complete to ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack), but eagle-eyed Leeds fans have been scouring it for clues about tonight.
And it looks like Helder Costa could be set to start ahead of Jack Harrison, which would come as a surprise to us.
Many Leeds were excited about seeing Kalvin Phillips playing on the side with pink bibs, which seems to be the starting XI.
It features Luke Ayling, Diego Llorente, Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Costa, Tyler Roberts and Mateusz Klich.
Davis posted the video on his TikTok account over the weekend.
These eight players aren’t nailed in stone but the first XI in murderball generally go on to start unless they don’t perform well enough in the training session.
Beyond the return of Phillips, the big take from the video is that Costa looks like holding onto his place in the starting XI ahead of Jack Harrison.
That would be a surprise to us.
Harrison has been ahead of Costa in the pecking order this season but was dropped for the 1-0 defeat against Villa.
However, Costa was flat against Villa and we thought that would see the return of Harrison to the side tonight.
Instead, it looks like Costa is in line to get just his second start since the beginning of November, with Harrison forced to watch from the sidelines.
The one doubt we’ve got is whether Rodrigo or Tyler Roberts start in the attacking midfield spot.
Roberts was playing with the pink bibs but Rodrigo was banging in goals for the under-23s on the same day.
We hope Rodrigo gets the nod from Bielsa.
In other Leeds United news, ‘We have reason to believe’ – Reliable journalist claims regular Leeds starter out v West Ham