Bielsa must axe "criminal" £15.3m-rated Leeds liability, Everton could tear him apart - opinion

Fresh off the back of a six-goal thriller only a few days ago, Leeds United are back in Premier League action as they are faced with a trip to Merseyside this afternoon.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side travel to Goodison Park to face a struggling Everton side, who are under new management with old foe Frank Lampard now in the dugout.

It’s sure to be an exciting encounter at the bottom half of the table and it’s one that the Toffees cannot afford to lose. Going by Wednesday night’s 3-3 draw with Aston Villa, the Whites could be in for another cracker.

The Argentine will want his starting XI to be a little more resolute if they are to return to west Yorkshire with a result, and that task is a little harder in the absence of Kalvin Phillips, who is usually the rock in front of the backline.

Central defender Robin Koch has been deployed there in recent matches, including at Villa Park. But was is evident is that he’s just not up to the same level as the missing England international.

As per SofaScore, he lost seven of his nine duels (77.7%), proving to be rather weak in his battles against Steven Gerrard’s engine room, whilst he was also dribbled past three times as attacking midfielders Jacob Ramsey and Philippe Coutinho effective ran the show for the home side.

Everton are in poor form but they now have players capable of changing the game in this role, having signed Dele Alli permanently from Spurs and Donny van de Beek from Manchester United on loan on deadline day.

Koch was once slammed for his “criminal” defending against another playmaker in Bruno Fernandes by BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand, so it’s evident he struggles against a creative-type talent in the heart of the pitch.

It would make the German colossus a little at risk