After their disheartening 3-2 defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their previous Premier League outing, Leeds United are back on the road again with another tough test against reigning league champions and current table-toppers Manchester City.
On the chalkboard
In terms of which players Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa could select to be in his starting XI to take on City with the likes of Liam Cooper, Patrick Bamford, Rodrigo, Robin Koch, Kalvin Phillips and Pascal Struijk out injured, one player that we think should be involved tonight is Whites attacker Tyler Roberts.
In his previous appearance for Leeds against Chelsea, Roberts managed to do his bit for the team in an attacking and defensive sense despite the ultimate disappointing result.
Offensively, the Welshman managed to assist Joe Gelhardt’s equalising goal in the 83rd minute and managed to test Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy with a shot on target.
Roberts, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £22k-per-week according to Salary Sport, also did his bit for the team in a defensive regard by winning seven duels and making three tackles.
This display ultimately earned the 22-year-old a respectable overall match rating of 7.1/10, making him one of Leeds’ highest-rated players on the day according to SofaScore.
With Roberts now having scored a goal and providing an assist in his two previous league appearances for Leeds, it would make sense for Bielsa to unleash him once again to see if he can add to his tally against City, especially with Bamford and Rodrigo out injured.
Do you think Bielsa should start Roberts against Man City?
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Leeds signed Roberts back in the 2018 January transfer window from West Bromwich Albion in a deal worth a reported fee of around £2.5m. Since then, the Welshman, who is currently valued at £5.4m according to Transfermarkt, has gone on to make 101 appearances for Leeds across all competitions, scoring nine goals and providing ten assists in the process.
Labelled as a player who “has got everything” in terms of ability on the pitch by former West Brom manager Tony Pulis, Roberts could end up being Leeds’ key man in the game against City and provide a real attacking threat alongside Raphinha, who has seven goals to his name in the league so far this season.
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