Will we see any changes?
After a performance like Wednesday’s, with the same set of players to choose from, it seems distinctly unlikely Marcelo Bielsa will have any interest in moving around his Leeds United team.
However, he did admit there had not been enough time between the Aston Villa and Everton matches to sufficiently recover, let alone prepare on the field for the Toffees.
“No, there's no time for preparation, but there's also no time for adequate recovery,” he said on Friday morning.
That does at least push the door ajar for changes if he feels the more tired members of his squad need it, though a sizeable break before the Villa game should mean they are fine to continue today.
Adam Forshaw, at the front of the queue anyway, will be champing at the bit to play where his career started 12 seasons ago.
Lampard watch
There’s normally always something connected with Frank Lampard that happens in Leeds games he’s involved with.
We know about all of the old headlines during his Derby County days, but if it’s not on the touchline with Bielsa then it’s normally post-match he will deliver a nugget of some kind.
On this occasion, Leeds and Bielsa are walking into a football club on the ropes. Lampard’s only been in the door five minutes and it feels like the new manager bounce was all used up on that Brentford cup win.
The manner of the defeat, and quality of opposition, in the loss at Newcastle United in midweek has drained all of the good feeling out of that appointment and Lampard knows he has to stop the rot on Saturday.
That kind of tension could yield something newsworthy out of Lampard.
Raphinha to find his feet where it all started?
Wednesday was a decidedly out-of-character performance from Raphinha, who is so often United’s very best player on the park.
Rodrigo stepped into the breach in midweek, but will we see a return to form from the Brazilian winger at the stadium where it all started for him last season?
Raphinha scored his first Leeds goal at Goodison Park in his fifth Whites appearance. It was the only goal in one of the finest team displays of the season under Bielsa.
James and Rodrigo to kick on?
Daniel James and Rodrigo were the stories of midweek with their performances at the heart of that pulsating fightback in the second city.
The challenge for both of them now is consistency. We have seen flashes like Wednesday’s from Rodrigo across his time with Leeds, but not enough of them in a small space of time.
It’s still early enough in James’s Leeds career to say we have not seen anything like Wednesday from him as yet. Can he now turn it on again and again to become the striker Bielsa believes he can be?
Defensive scores to settle
While nine goals have been scored in the last four Premier League games, Bielsa will be all too aware they have conceded seven in the same timeframe.
James and Rodrigo may have been running the show in the final third at Villa Park, but Jacob Ramsey’s goals cannot be forgotten.
Leeds need to tighten up and show they can keep clean sheets again. We haven’t seen one since the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on November 30.
Illan Meslier, Luke Ayling, Diego Llorente, Pascal Struijk, Stuart Dallas and Robin Koch will be smarting and looking to put things right on Merseyside.
