No Phillips? - How Leeds could line-up against Brighton

8:05am on Friday 15th January 2021
By Cameron Smith

Marcelo Bielsa will be hoping his Leeds side can bounce back from their humiliating 3-0 defeat to Crawley Town in the FA Cup with a strong performance against a struggling Brighton.

Bielsa rotated fairly heavily in the defeat to Crawley, but one positive was the return to action for club captain Liam Cooper, who is now fully fit and likely to start at centre-half.

Kalvin Phillips' suspension is a huge blow for Leeds, with the Englishman the player who stitches together the side, but in his absence Pascal Struijk may move forward from central defence to play the Phillips role.

Cooper would then take Struijk's place in the back four.

The versatile Stuart Dallas has seemingly played everywhere this season, but the form of Ezgjan Alioski at left-back means he may start at right-back as he has done for the past six games.

Rodrigo and Mateusz Klich have played as the free no.8s for the majority of the season, and it's expected this will continue.

The form of Raphinha and Jack Harrison has been vital to Leeds' free-flowing attacking football, and Harrison in particular could be extremely influential as Brighton are still missing Tariq Lamptey at right wing-back and are weak down that flank as a result.

Patrick Bamford's form has come as a surprise to many Premier League fans, and with 10 goals in 17 league games, he'll be hoping to bag a few more against a shaky Seagulls backline.