Leeds United strikers up against more than Aston Villa defence with Patrick Bamford still out

The centre-forward won’t be playing; he’s not even jogging yet as injuries continue to keep him from action.

His ankle, hamstring and now a painful foot have left him to savour just 22 minutes of Premier League football since mid-September.

Bielsa can’t even say when the 28-year-old will return because, until the pain subsides, he can’t start training.

In his absence, Bielsa will select one of his current options, including Rodrigo, Joe Gelhardt, Tyler Roberts and Daniel James, pitting them against not only Steven Gerrard’s defence and still-fresh memories of Bamford’s superb Villa Park hat-trick, but the hypothetical notion that he would finish any chances that come their way.

And as Bielsa said this week, there’s only one winner when you take on the hypothetical - particularly when you don’t win.

In the defeat to Newcastle United, Bielsa once again entrusted winger James to lead the line, before latterly turning to Tyler Roberts and Rodrigo.Eventually, he turned to Joe Gelhardt, sending the youngster into the fray for the final 10 minutes.

The post-game discussion centered around Leeds’ inability to turn possession and chances into goals with suggestions in many quarters, including in this correspondent’s ‘verdict’, that a natural centre-forward like Bamford, or possibly even Gelhardt, was what they were lacking. Bielsa accepted that such hypotheses would come his way because they didn’t score, but had arguments of his own to bring to the table.