Marcelo Bielsa unsure if Leeds United's latest injured trio will require surgery on hamstring problems

Liam Cooper, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford all suffered problems at Elland Road on Sunday, and despite the vagueness of Bielsa's updates with regards to timescale, it would be a major surprise if any featured at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. All three will be badly missed.

Centre-back Cooper is Leeds's captain, their Premier League record without Phillips is concerning, and Bamford was making a goalscoring return from injury as a substitute having been badly missed since picking up an injury at Newcastle United in mid-September.

Asked if any of the trio would require surgery, he replied: "I didn't ask for that information. As a result, I can't tell you it.

"Because they're more tendon injuries rather than from the muscle fibre we know it's not like the muscular injuries that are cured in one month.

"The time they will be out for is subject to their evolution. I can't express myself any further in that sense."

Asked if Phillips could use the lay-off to have surgery on a long-standing shoulder issue that could not be dealt with over the summer because of his crucial role in England's European Championship campaign, Bielsa replied: "I haven't heard that from the medical staff but it has commonsense.

"If the time he needs to recover from this injury exceeds the time he needs to recover from his shoulder, it makes sense. But as we don't know how long it's going to take to recover from his current injury I can't apply my commonsense to your enquiry."

With Rodrigo also missing with a heel problem and Robin Koch only expected to return to training at the weekend after surgery, then illness, Leeds's small squad continues to be tested, but the Argentinian says the latest medical bulletin has no bearing on the club's transfer plans for January.

"If any player the club is able to bring in is better than the players we have at our disposal it will be a welcome possibility but we all know the difficulties of the winter transfer market," he said, reiterated the stance he has consistently taken. "It's difficult to find players that are competing, that don't have a place in the team they're in. Normally those who are competing have a space within their team and whether it's an economically viable option for those conditions to be met is not simple."