Eddie Nketiah's last gasp heroics against Preston North End showed once again how he is quickly becoming an indispensable threat for Leeds United this season.
Yet despite netting his fifth goal of the term, the Arsenal loanee continues to remain benched behind Patrick Bamford under Marcelo Bielsa.
The Argentine has spoken on several occasions about his reasons for leaving the England youth international among the substitutes so far in the Whites' Championship campaign.
But on a statistical level, it's becoming increasingly difficult to see how Nketiah remains stuck on the sidelines waiting for a belated introduction rather than taking to the field for kick-off.
COMPARISON: Eddie Nketiah vs. Patrick Bamford:
— LUFCDATA (@LUFCDATA) 23 October 2019
Goals: 5-4
Conversion rate: 28%-8%
Mins per goal: 78-247
Shots per goal: 3.6-12.0
Nketiah is now Leeds' leading scorer with 5 goals this season. Patrick Bamford's alarming 8% conversion rate looks even worse against Nketiah's 28%. pic.twitter.com/FqZQBBJZJJ
Twitter user and LeedsLive collaborator @LUFCDATA has calculated the facts and figures of both United strikers across all competitions this season following Tuesday's encounter at Deepdale.
With his finish last night, Nketiah has now netted more goals than Bamford this season for Leeds, with five against four - despite featuring for only 388 minutes compared to the latter's 987 on the pitch.
That hands the former a minutes-per-goal rate of a score every 78 minutes, compared to his more senior team-mate's yield of 247.
In addition, Nketiah's conversion rate dwarfs that of Bamford's, with almost four times as much success at 28 per cent against a dismal eight per cent.
Bielsa may continue to keep faith in Bamford, whose vital off-the-ball contributions are not as clearly spelt out in hard numbers here - although Nketiah's defensive numbers show one more interception than Bamford and more tackles per 90 minutes than the former Boro man.
Interestingly, Nketiah is missing more big chances than Bamford at 1.2 per 90 minutes, compared to Bamford's mark of 0.91 - so perhaps the debate is not as clear cut as some Leeds fans think it is.
Despite this, it is becoming hard to deny that the hungry Nketiah deserves his shot from the start sooner rather than later.
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