OPINION
Marcelo Bielsa could find himself down to the bare bones on Saturday if Pontus Jansson misses out through injury as expected.
While his injury is thought to be not serious, he’s unlikely to make Saturday’s clash against Bristol City and it will give Bielsa a real dilemma.
With Gaetano Berardi and Luke Ayling on the long-term injured list, he’s out of senior players for that position and it means that Kalvin Phillips is likely to drop back and deputise.
He’s been used in a back three before but never a back two, but the other options come from the Under-23s, like Conor Shaughnessy, and Bielsa hasn’t rushed to include many youngsters this season.
With Phillips at the back, it opens up the midfield for Adam Forshaw to drop back and £3million signing Samu Saiz to reclaim his place back after being dropped for the past three league games.
So, what Bielsa loses in defence he’ll gain in attack and he’ll hope that will be enough to claim the three points that could take his side back to the top of the league.
This is the side we expect Bielsa to put out on Saturday:
