'Phillips & Raphinha Are Leeds' Most Important Players'

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'Phillips & Raphinha Are Leeds' Most Important Players'

Journalist Beren Cross, from Leeds Live, has highlighted the importance of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips to the Yorkshire outfit's hopes against Leicester City on Sunday.

2021-11-06T09:11:00.000Z

'Phillips & Raphinha Are Leeds' Most Important Players'

Journalist Beren Cross, from Leeds Live, has highlighted the importance of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips to the Yorkshire outfit's hopes against Leicester City on Sunday.

2021-11-06T09:11:00.000Z

'Phillips & Raphinha Are Leeds' Most Important Players'

Journalist Beren Cross, from Leeds Live, has highlighted the importance of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips to the Yorkshire outfit's hopes against Leicester City on Sunday.

2021-11-06T09:11:00.000Z

'Phillips & Raphinha Are Leeds' Most Important Players'

Journalist Beren Cross, from Leeds Live, has highlighted the importance of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips to the Yorkshire outfit's hopes against Leicester City on Sunday.

2021-11-06T09:11:00.000Z

'Phillips & Raphinha Are Leeds' Most Important Players'

Journalist Beren Cross, from Leeds Live, has highlighted the importance of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips to the Yorkshire outfit's hopes against Leicester City on Sunday.

2021-11-06T09:11:00.000Z

- Leicester City tackle Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday (2pm kick-off)- Leeds Live journalist Beren Cross has previewed the clash from a opposition perspective- Cross has pointed to the quality of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips- He also provided a tactical preview of how the clash could unfold this weekend

The Foxes travel to Elland Road for a 2pm kick-off on Sunday looking to get back to winning ways after a five-game unbeaten in all competitions was followed by a Premier League reverse to Arsenal and Thursday's 1-1 draw with Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Europa League.

Leeds, on the other hand, picked up a 2-1 victory at bottom club Norwich City last time out, but have struggled to get into a consistent run of positive form so far in 2021/22. Marcelo Bielsa's men currently sit 17th in the Premier League standings after 10 outings.

"There’s a degree of trepidation coming into the Leicester game," Cross told Matchday Live, which begins at 12:30pm on Sunday. "We all know, on their day, how good Leicester can be. Obviously, they’ve set the bar very, very high over the last couple of seasons under Brendan Rodgers.

"As inconsistent as Leeds have been at the start of the season, for them, the league table doesn’t lie. Crucially, they won on Sunday, beating Norwich 2-1. If people haven’t seen the game, Leeds did not play particularly well.

"It’s more of an indictment of where Norwich are at than how impressive Leeds were or suggesting some sort of resurgence. We’re all well aware that if they play like that on Sunday, then Leicester have got a very good chance of winning the game at Elland Road.

"There’s a lot of improvement there, they don’t look like a side that finished ninth last season. We’re not quite hitting the panic button just yet.

"There’s a small degree of worry. We’re 10 games in and there’s 10 points on the board. If you do the maths, that will equate to about 38 points, which of course would make them very, very narrowly avoiding relegation judging by recent seasons."

City secured a 4-1 win at Leeds last season and Cross believes supporters of the three-time champions will be wary of their visitors this weekend. The home side's tactical system could also give an early indication into how the match may transpire, he says.

"Leicester have got a lot of weapons," he added. "They may not be at full strength. From a distance, I can see Wesley Fofana and James Justin are very big players from recent seasons and will be missing at the weekend. We know about [Jamie] Vardy, we know about [James] Maddison, we know that [Youri] Tielemans is absolutely flying.

"In the system Leicester play, they can get at Leeds. If Leicester continue with two up two, we expect Leeds to play with a back three. We’re talking in very general terms, but Leeds do just look a little more fragile with a back three. We prefer it when they play their 4-1-4-1 system.

"If anybody remembers last season, Leicester came to Elland Road and they thoroughly enjoyed the space they had.

"They looked very compact at the back, Leicester. I don’t know, from a distance, how they’re defending this season compared to previously, but I think Leicester will be well suited to soak in Leeds’ pressure. Leeds will have a lot of the possession.

"Only Liverpool have had more possession than Leeds this season. They can hit Leeds on the break as they did last season. We know how much Vardy likes running into space. We know Tielemans can pick a pass. As ever, the optimists will hope to see an improvement from Leeds."

Luke Ayling and Patrick Bamford are fitness doubts for Leeds on Sunday, but with Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha available, Cross says the hosts still have enough talent within their XI to cause issues for Leicester. Both players have grown even taller in stature at Elland Road this season.

"Bielsa would never make those kind of excuses," Cross continued, referencing Leeds' injuries. "He does run with a small squad, that’s been his cross to bear. It’s been his decision ever since he walked into the club in 2018. There are a lot of merits to that.

"There’s not really any players who are dissatisfied at Leeds, there’s nobody kicking their heels at the training ground, not getting a game. Everybody needs to play, but as soon as injuries hit, or there’s a suspension or two, it’s all hands on deck. There’s nobody sulking, which is what Bielsa wants.

"He wants a squad which is very motivated and feels involved in the action. The negative side effect of that is, when injuries do hit, the squad is only so deep. There’s a lot of young players who have come onto the bench, some have even got onto the pitch in recent weeks. It’s been a mixed level of success. There have been some pretty good debuts, but we all know, across a 38-game season, you can’t be relying on the Under-23s players.

"The injuries have hurt them. [Luke] Ayling and [Patrick] Bamford are the existing issues which Leicester will have eyes on going into this weekend. I think they’ll be on the bench at best on Sunday.

"It’s not Bielsa’s style to rush players back even if they are pain free. [Kalvin] Phillips and Raphinha are the most important players and, thankfully, they’re fit and available, which is crucial. Across the first 10 games, Leeds have definitely not been anywhere near fully fit at any stage.

"Raphinha’s become a talisman. We saw flashes last season and he hit a certain level. He had one or two injury issues at the end of the season which took the wind out of his sails. Coming into this campaign, the Brazil call-up says it all. That doesn’t happen unless you’re turning heads.

"To go away with Brazil in that last international break and actually be their best player, outshining Neymar, we can only laugh really because we’ve come to expect Raphinha playing like that.

"He constantly clears those obstacles and meets and surpasses expectations, so to see him do that with Brazil was quite an eye opener. It’s brought that form back with him to Leeds. At Norwich, Leeds didn’t play particularly well, it was a very poor game, but Raphinha delivered a touch of brilliance.

"As harsh as it is to say with some of the others, it does feel like a one-man attack at times. Many of the other players just aren’t finding the form they need and Raphinha is probably going to be critical on Sunday to Leeds getting anything from the game.

"On Phillips, anyone who watched the Euros will know what he can do. He brings a great deal of solidity to the team. The three at the back system for Leeds is especially weak if he’s not in the team, but if he is there, it gives them a much, much stronger platform from which to build."

All times GMT.

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