Leeds United managed to see off Queens Park Rangers in the latest round of fixtures at Elland Road. However, there was one surprise in the lineup as Eddie Nketiah wasn’t included in the matchday squad. Quite a few sections of fans want him to start over Bamford who has now gone ten games without scoring.
However, Nketiah is currently down with an injury as updated by Phil Hay of the Athletic. He tweeted this-
No timescale on Nketiah yet but he felt pain while at home last night having trained earlier in the day. Shackleton also suffering from a quad problem. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) November 2, 2019
Bielsa on Nketiah
What will be worrying for the Whites is the dubious nature of the injury. Moreover, the timescale is also uncertain at this point, so it is still not clear for how long he would be out. To add more salt to the wound, Bielsa went on to confirm (Leeds Live) that Nketiah would have started for the QPR game. The manager said, ”Last night after training he went home, he had a pain in his abs, and it didn’t allow him to participate today. Yes, he was going to play today at the beginning of the match.”
What now for Leeds United?
Bamford was once again lacklustre in front of goal, and he looks like a player low on confidence. The Englishman has now gone ten games without scoring, and that would be a significant cause for worry with Nketiah also injured now. The English striker is yet to start a game in the Championship and all his appearances in the second division have come off the bench.
The young Arsenal forward has influenced the game in his little cameos as he has three goals and one assist to his name in the Championship. There have been some rumours of Arsenal recalling him back in January due to the lack of starts, but that is unlikely to happen at the moment. Moreover, he finally seems to have won Bielsa over as the Argentine manager was going to deploy him up front against QPR if not for his injury.
The Whites don’t have much depth in most of the positions so they would hope to get Nketiah back fit and running soon. Apart from Bamford, Tyler Roberts can play up front. Roberts looked sharp in the attacking midfield role in the last game so it remains to be seen how Bielsa would utilise him in the future games. Hopefully, it won’t be too big of a blow for United to lose Nketiah to injury. Until he is ready, Bamford can probably use this time to turn his fortunes around in front of goal.
