Whites boss Javi Gracia made three changes to his side for Saturday’s clash at Chelsea and one of those was enforced with Patrick Bamford missing out due to a fresh injury setback. Leeds then fell to a 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge which has left the club fourth-bottom in the Premier League table and only outside of the division’s drop zone on goal difference.
The Whites now have another 13 games remaining to pick up the points needed for top-flight survival and there is still over half a team on the treatment table ahead of next weekend’s return to action at home to high-flying Brighton. Here, we run through who is currently out and what we know about when they are expected back.
1. Rodrigo
The club's top scorer has been sidelined since the end of January having suffered bone and ligament damage to his ankle as a result of a challenge in the fourth round FA Cup clash at Accrington Stanley in which he was brought on as a substitute with Leeds 3-0 up. Leeds said at the time that they were confident the striker would return to play by the end of March. The Whites have just two more games left this month, next weekend's home clash against Brighton followed by the following weekend's trip to Wolves. The Emirates clash against Arsenal on April 1 after the international break is next. Whites boss Javi Gracia was asked about Rodrigo ahead of the FA Cup clash at Fulham at the end of last month and said: "I can see him working at the gym. Improving. But I can't tell you because in this case, I don't know when he is going to be ready." Photo: Gareth Copley
2. Patrick Bamford
Bamford was finally building up a run of consecutive starts but missed the weekend's clash at Chelsea due to a leg issue. Whites boss Javi Gracia said before the game: "Pat felt something in his leg and it's better to protect him a little bit and we will see if he is ready for the next game." Photo: Stu Forster
3. Luis Sinisterra
Sinisterra had only just returned from a Lisfranc/foot injury when he was forced off after just eight minutes of last month's 2-2 draw at Manchester United with what appeared to be a muscular injury. Caretaker boss Michael Skubala then said that Sinisterra has suffered "a bit of a different injur"y but that he thought the Colombian international would be okay and that he would be assessed ahead of the following Sunday's rematch against the Red Devils. Sinisttera, though, has not been seen since and Gracia has not gone into details about individual players, just saying the injured players were still out. Sinisterra took to Instagram after his Old Trafford injury to write: "I'll be back." It remains to be seen when. Photo: OLI SCARFF
4. Liam Cooper
United's captain returned from a recent knock to take his place amongst the substitutes for last month's clash at Everton but was not called for despite Max Wober being lost to a shoulder injury as Rasmus Kristensen was introduced instead. Skubala then revealed that Cooper was not ready for "long minutes" and the skipper has missed the last three matchday squads. Gracia was asked about Cooper, Pascal Struik and Max Wober - the latter duo who are now back - ahead of the weekend trip to Chelsea. He said: "I know you are really concerned about injured but don’t worry they are in the best hands to recover as soon as possible. I don’t like speaking about players because I don’t want to give information about players. To be honest, some of them, today, I don't know if they will be ready or not. The main reason is not only that, I don’t want to speak about injured players." Photo: PAUL ELLIS
5. Adam Forshaw
Forshaw made a welcome return to start the games against Manchester City and Newcastle United at the end of December but the midfielder was taken off at the half-time break of the Magpies clash and has not been seen since. Ex-Whites boss Jesse Marsch said in January: "With Adam, we were still addressing his physical issues, so at half-time, we felt like we needed to take him out. We had a little procedure done with him today that we think is a couple of days, and then we'll see how he recovers. So it was just, it's his hip that is causing him some issues. But we're hopeful that it's like a little shop that can help loosen things up.” Photo: George Wood
6. Stuart Dallas
Dallas continues on the comeback trail from the femoral fracture that he suffered in the clash at home to Manchester City at the end of last April. The Northern Ireland international star had second surgery in January to clean some things up. Marsch said at the end of January: "Stuart had a follow-up operation because they thought they had a little bit of an infection, so they just cleaned that out, but he's back and feeling good.' Photo: OLI SCARFF