Leeds United may have to take a ‘gamble’ on Patrick Bamford in the final few games of the season, The Athletic’s Phil Hay has said.
The lowdown
The 28-year-old last featured for the Whites in the 3-2 victory over Wolves back on 18 March. He was forced off 23 minutes into that game with a foot injury and has missed the five matches since.
Jesse Marsch’s team fell into the relegation zone on Sunday after they lost 2-1 to Arsenal and positional rivals Everton won at Leicester City. Their final three fixtures against Chelsea (Wednesday), Brighton (Sunday) and Brentford (22 May) are now set to decide their Premier League fate.
As it stands, Bamford and Liam Cooper are Leeds’ only short-term absentees, with Stuart Dallas, Tyler Roberts, Adam Forshaw and Crysencio Summerville all ruled out for the season.
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The latest
Taking to The Athletic’s matchday discussion board on Sunday, Hay said that Marsch may have to rush Bamford back in order to address a lack of goals in the Leeds squad.
The journalist admitted: “To be quite honest, I feel like they’re going to have to gamble on Patrick Bamford in the last couple of games. It doesn’t feel like Leeds have enough goals in them at the moment.”
The verdict
How have Leeds fared in this most recent five-game stretch without Bamford?
They have picked up five points courtesy of a win at Watford and draws with Southampton and Crystal Palace, but they’ve only managed to score five goals in that time, backing up Hay’s concern.
The 28-year-old has only been fit enough to start seven games over the season as a whole, and that has seen Daniel James and Rodrigo each play 14 matches as a centre-forward. The pair have managed to score just 10 goals between them, whereas Bamford managed 17 on his own in 2020/21.
Leeds would appear to have far more firepower with the £74,000-per-week former Chelsea marksman in the line-up, but the question is whether he will be in a condition to make a difference given his injury woes in recent weeks and months.
Hailed as a leader by team-mate Jack Harrison, the striker himself may be itching to come back and try to save the Whites from relegation.
In other news, Danny Mills dropped this big claim on Bamford