Leeds United’s two biggest promotion rivals have been handed huge setbacks over the past few weeks as a number of key players have been affected by injury and suspension.
Indeed, West Brom are now without Grady Diangana for a spell, while Matheus Pereira has been banned for three games after being charged with violent conduct after the Baggies’ game against Stoke City.
Fulham are also in the midst of a crisis as their attack has been severely diminished by injuries to Aleksandar Mitrovic, Aboubakar Kamara, and Anthony Knockaert.
Unfortunately for Leeds, their rivals are still able to field extremely strong squads, even in these desperate times.
Watch Leeds United Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below
Depth
Fulham and West Brom are undoubtedly two key contenders for promotion this term as they occupy two of the top three spots, and that’s down to the strength of their squads.
Both sides will be without key players for the coming weeks, but they have enough depth within their squad to remain competitive at the top-level.
Fulham are able to call upon the likes of Ivan Caveleiro and Bobby Decordova-Reid, two players who were regularly playing in the Premier League last season, to replace their injured stars.
The Baggies are in a similar position with Pereira and Diangana being out, but they can easily call upon the likes of Kyle Edwards, Chris Brunt, Filip Krovinovic or Hal Robson-Kanu to fill the gaps on either the left-wing or in attacking midfield.
Compare that to Leeds, and you can see where the problem is.
Leeds’ lack of it
Marcelo Bielsa has always liked working with a small squad, but it does have huge disadvantages.
The Whites simply don’t have adequate cover in these key positions, and as fatigue and the famed ‘Bielsa burnout’ set in the Whites could be in trouble.
Patrick Bamford simply doesn’t have a replacement at the moment, and Adam Forshaw’s injury has forced them into playing Stuart Dallas as a makeshift midfielder for a large portion of the season.
United simply don’t have the same depth as their promotion rivals, and that may be telling when all is said and done at the end of the season.
In other news, Leeds are ‘pretty likely to buy’ one man for £8m.