BIELSA BLOW WITH COOPER AND PHILLIPS SIDELINED UNTIL MARCH

LEEDS boss Marcelo Bielsa has revealed captain Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips are not expected to return from their hamstring injuries until March. The duo were hurt during the 2-2 draw with Brentford at the start of December, and while they were not set to feature again until the new year, the update is a blow. Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Burnley, Bielsa was asked if the recent fitness issues in the squad, which had seen the club’s last two matches postponed, would force Leeds to be active in the January window. He said: ‘We have been recovering players, even if Phillips and Cooper will return in March. ‘And even if Jamie Shackleton and Charlie Cresswell come back towards the end of January or early February, the number of players we have is increasing. ‘We will see whether during January an alternative comes up which we may take advantage of.’

Asked if Cooper (below) and Phillips returning in March was a worst-case scenario, he said: ‘No, that is what we expect.’ Injuries and Covid-19 cases saw Leeds’ scheduled fixtures with Liverpool and Aston Villa postponed, but Bielsa was able to provide better news on some of the other absentees. Junior Firpo is available after suspension and is set to be joined in the squad by Diego Llorente, Robin Koch and Dan James for tomorrow’s match. ‘For the following game, we recover Junior, James, Diego Llorente, Koch had already returned and Jack Harrison also,’ Patrick Bamford was another to suffer an issue during that costly draw with Brentford but he is fit again. But Bielsa is cautious about using last season’s top scorer this weekend, adding: ‘Patrick is healthy but he hasn’t played for four weeks now and it puts in doubt the convenience of him playing without having done any football training sessions.’