Six changes have been Marcelo Bielsa’s average impact on his Leeds United line-ups going into the three FA Cup third-round ties he has overseen.
However, United’s festive schedule was not crippled by postponements on those occasions.
Heading into kick-off at West Ham United, Leeds will have played one match in the previous three weeks after postponing games on Boxing Day and December 28.
For a head coach who is well known for having his players sharp and topped up with minutes in the under-23s if they are missing for any length of time, that’s a lot of rest.
The normal stresses and strains which have encouraged rotation in previous seasons do not exist, plus there’s the fact he is already missing eight options through injury on Sunday.
The ability to rotate en masse and keep an experienced team on the pitch is virtually impossible.
With full weeks between the next two games, before a two-and-a-half-week wait to face Aston Villa, Bielsa may make the one, enforced change he has to.
Tyler Roberts’s injury opens the door for Daniel James to come in from the bench to play in the striker role, as we have seen Bielsa do many times in the past.
Illan Meslier doesn’t need a rest, while Luke Ayling and Robin Koch have only recently started playing again after long-term injuries. They need the minutes.
Diego Llorente will be suspended next weekend, so this is an opportunity to keep his engine ticking over while Junior Firpo had a rest with his suspension against Arsenal.
Adam Forshaw’s injury record and the major pitch time Raphinha and Stuart Dallas have shared this season would make them the obvious candidates for a rest.
However, Forshaw is only on nine starts for the season and Bielsa may not be comfortable with leaving the other two undercooked with one game in four weeks as they return to West Ham in the league.
The head coach needs his players sharp. Patrick Bamford is the mystery, but with all of his other strikers injured, it’s hard to see Bielsa risking the England man from the start of a cup game.
Predicted line-up: Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Llorente, Firpo; Forshaw; Raphinha, Dallas, Klich, Harrison; James.
