Leeds United have been dealt a massive injury blow ahead of today’s Premier League trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
What’s the latest?
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Jesse Marsch confirmed that, after picking up an injury to his hip in training after taking a penalty, Patrick Bamford would not be fit in time for the game.
Whilst at the time it was billed as a “seven-day injury”, there was hope that he might have returned for today’s game against Spurs.
However, whilst reading out his list of absentees, the American claimed: “Patrick is out for this match. He still hasn’t recovered.”
It means he will miss their final game before the World Cup, where he should hopefully return with a clean bill of health.
He’s a big miss
Although he is yet to score this season, the absence of Bamford is always heavily felt by the Yorkshire club.
He had been such a reliable goalscorer before he first began suffering from injuries and has since left his side in the lurch on plenty of occasions through no fault of his own.
Scoring 16 goals during their promotion campaign from the Championship, his return to the Premier League saw him better this tally with a record of 17 across the season as well as providing eight assists.
However, over the last season and a half, he has just 19 appearances, scoring two goals.
During their struggles under Marcelo Bielsa before his sacking, Tyler Roberts spoke to talkSPORT about the importance of the English forward. He claimed that Bamford had been a “big miss” and was a “big player” for them. This season has seen a similar issue.
Despite this, the Whites have not been short of goals in recent fixtures.
In their last three league games, two of which have been wins, they have scored eight times.
Although players such as Sam Greenwood and Crysencio Summerville have stepped up this season to help alleviate the goalscoring burden, they are primarily wing options and there are few who could have replicated what the 29-year-old achieved when he was fully fit and problem free.
It, therefore, makes this a crushing blow for Marsch that his key forward could not regain fitness for the last time before the enforced break and will make their task even tougher.
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