New Leeds boss Jesse Marsch hoping for Patrick Bamford return next week

Jesse Marsch anticipates Patrick Bamford will make a cameo when Leeds welcome Aston Villa to Elland Road on Thursday following three months on the sidelines.

It has been an injury-plagued campaign for Bamford, who has made just six Premier League appearances this season, the last of them on December 5th, as ankle and hip issues were followed by a problem at the bottom of his foot.

He was an unused substitute in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Leicester, where his presence was sorely missed as Leeds lacked a cutting edge, having 19 shots at goal but failing to breach the inspired Kasper Schmeichel’s net.

But new Leeds head coach Marsch, whose side lie just two points above the relegation zone, expects Bamford to get some game time, albeit not from the off, when they look to boost their bid for top-flight survival against Villa.

“I don’t think Patrick’s ready to be on from the start,” the American said. “Let’s see how the week goes but certainly I think he’ll be ready to put in some minutes come Thursday.

“Patrick is back in training, he will continue to progress more and more, we’ll get him fitter and fitter and sharper and sharper and then we will be able to rely on him in these 11 games.”

Marsch insisted Bamford would only have been available for 10 minutes at best at Leicester so elected to use the last of his three changes to send on Tyler Roberts with a quarter of an hour to go in a bid to get an equaliser.

Leeds were dominant for large spells but missed a string of chances, with  Schmeichel excellently denying Rodrigo and Raphinha in particular, before falling behind when Harvey Barnes coolly slotted home after 67 minutes.

Rather than introduce Bamford, Leeds’ 17-goal top-scorer last season, Marsch turned to Roberts, who