Here are your Leeds United morning headlines for Friday, 23 October.
Former Leeds defender concerned by key injury
Danny Mills is concerned about Kalvin Phillips’ six-week lay-off after the shoulder injury he suffered in Monday’s defeat by Wolves.
The defensive midfielder has been a key player for Leeds, earning call-ups for England in the last two international breaks, but he looks set to miss next month’s Nations League matches against Belgium and Iceland.
“The injury is an issue for Leeds,” the former England international told Football Insider.
“He is a magnificent player. He has been absolutely outstanding of late and has got himself into the England side and that will likely rule him out of the next internationals.
“That would be a big blow for him personally. To get injured is disappointing for anybody but to get injured just as you are having a breakthrough.
“Leeds will survive but they would rather not.”
What Leeds to be wary of against Aston Villa tonight
Leeds are likely to dominate possession and territory, as they almost always do, in tonight’s visit to Villa Park.
But they need to be wary of a side that have kept three clean sheets from four matches and will look to spring counter-attacks through the likes of Ross Barkley, Jack Grealish and Ollie Watkins.
Dean Smith’s men did that to devastating effect in the recent 7-2 victory over champions Liverpool, registering just 30% possession on home soil but dominating in terms of shots, chances, expected goals - and ultimately the scoreline too.
Leeds have had the lion’s share of possession in every Premier League game they’ve played to date, including edging it against Liverpool and Manchester City, and will look to dictate the tempo as ever away to Aston Villa this evening.
Here’s our full tactical breakdown of what’s likely to define tonight’s contest.
The full squad available to Marcelo Bielsa for Villa clash
It’s only five games into the Premier League season but already Marcelo Bielsa has his first major selection headache in tonight’s trip to Villa Park.
Summer signing Diego Llorente and key midfielder Kalvin Phillips are both unavailable, while it remains to be seen whether Pascal Struijk and Liam Cooper are fully fit.
The former looked to be in discomfort when he was substituted against Wolves on Monday, whilst the latter suffered an injury recurrence in the warm-up and had to be withdrawn from the XI at the last minute.
Elsewhere, Adam Forshaw and Gaetano Berardi remain out of contention. However, Bielsa has everyone else fit, with plenty of options for the wings and attack, while he’ll hope that both Cooper and Struijk can feature in the absence of Llorente and Phillips respectively.
