Leeds United host their first Premier League match in more than 16 years tomorrow and welcome Fulham to Elland Road.
Off the back of an encouraging defeat at Liverpool last weekend there is plenty to ponder for Marcelo Bielsa with his team selection.
Here, our two Whites experts deliver the line-ups they would pick and why.
Beren Cross
It’s very hard to justify many, if any, changes for Leeds United this weekend after their opening loss to Liverpool, or the manner of it, more specifically.
Captain Liam Cooper, naturally, returns to the heart of defence against Fulham in place of Pascal Struijk, but the only other player you may have considered borderline going to Anfield was Helder Costa.
The Portuguese was brilliant at the home of the champions and certainly deserves to remain in the side on Saturday, especially with Rodrigo below par in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
The Spain striker is now the only man outside the current XI I would consider good enough to have a huge impact on starting line-up if he played.
It’s a case of waiting for him to build that tactical familiarity within Marcelo Bielsa’s system.
Beren’s XI: Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Cooper, Dallas; Phillips; Costa, Klich, Hernandez, Harrison; Bamford.
Joe Mewis
The strengths and weaknesses of this Leeds United side were plain to see at Anfield last weekend. When the Liam Cooper-less starting XI was confirmed, only the most optimistic Whites fan would have predicted that a centre-back pairing of Robin Koch and Pascal Struijk would have kept the swarming Liverpool attack at bay.
With Bielsa giving us an optimistic outlook on Cooper's chances for the weekend when he spoke on Thursday, it's clear he has to come back in. It may seem harsh to drop Stuijk given how well he acclimatised himself against the Premier League champions, but Cooper and Koch is clearly the first-choice centre-back partnership as things stand. The German has now had a full week at Thorp Arch to settle in and we should get a really good look at where he is at, especially if he's up against Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Elsewhere, it's hard to argue the case for any changes. Rodrigo got a useful 90-minute run out on Wednesday night, even if he was starved of service, but while he continues to get up to speed to Bielsa's methods, Patrick Bamford should lead the line. After all, he took his only real chance at Anfield with the kind of instinctive efficiency that fans have been crying out for since he arrived at Leeds. I would, however, give the Spaniard a go behind the striker as he showed glimpses of his excellent passing ability on Wednesday night and could find this is the role he gels in at Leeds.
Joe's XI: Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Cooper, Dallas; Phillips; Hernandez, Klich, Rodrigo, Harrison; Bamford.
Now it’s your turn to have your say on how you think Leeds United should line up this weekend.
Choose your preferred starting Leeds XI by using the team selector above.
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