West Ham injury update could hand Leeds big advantage next week
Leeds United slipped up against Aston Villa but a recent update means they have a great chance to put things right against West Ham.
The Whites have had their fair share on injury issues this season and will be without key men next week – but it appears West Ham will too.
David Moyes revealed that there are injury concerns over first-choice goalkeepers Lukasz Fabianski and Darren Randolph.
The latter started against Manchester City on Saturday with Fabianksi out, but he picked up a niggle in the match.
As quoted by Football.London, Moyes said, “Darren Randolph is just back from a thigh injury that kept him out for a month or so and he has only been back in training a week or two and he just felt it in the second half again.
“Lukasz picked up a minor injury in training. One of the players accidentally stood on his arm and it caused a problem yesterday.
“I am hoping he is going to be back [soon], I can’t be sure when.”
Big boost
If the pair are out injured we could come up against David Martin a week on Monday.
The 35-year-old has not played this season so should be rusty to say the least.
We have multiple ways to exploit that frailty.
Patrick Bamford and Raphinha should be licking their lips but we can also pressure Martin from set-pieces.
Pascal Struijk has looked particularly dangerous in the air in recent weeks and since West Ham and tough to break down we may need some magic from a corner or free-kick.
The poor display against Villa showed we need a little more invention going forward, and we expect Marcelo Bielsa will address this.
Their strong organisation highlighted our lack of ideas, and West Ham also did the same in our first match this season.
They could feel vulnerable without their main keepers however, and hopefully that plays a part in us getting back to winning ways.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay drops major Leeds exit hint about £15m player who started v Aston Villa.