Leeds United have been dealt a huge injury blow ahead of their upcoming Premier League meeting with Chelsea.

What's the latest?

In a recent post on Twitter, Phil Hay relayed comments made by Jesse Marsch in his pre-match press conference, in which the 48-year-old suggested that, while Patrick Bamford is nearing a return to first-team football, he will not be available for the fixture at Elland Road this evening.

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In his tweet, Hay said: "Bamford - should be in team training by the end of the week. Monitoring him day to day."

Supporters will be gutted

Considering how important a part of the Leeds United attack Bamford is, in addition to the fact that, should the Whites wish to give themselves the best possible chance of avoiding relegation to the Championship, they simply must get a result against the Blues, the news that the 28-year-old has not recovered in time to face his former club is sure to have left the Elland Road faithful gutted.

Indeed, over his 38 Premier League fixtures last term, the £18m-rated forward proved just how crucial he is to the Leeds attack, bagging a whopping 17 goals, providing seven assists and creating five big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.8 shots and making 0.8 key passes per game.

These metrics saw the £74k-per-week striker average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.01, ranking him as his Whites' seventh-best player in the top flight of English football - with the England international's returns playing an all-important role in Marcelo Bielsa's side securing a top-half finish in 2020/21.

As such, with Marsch's side having scored just one goal over their last three Premier League fixtures, it is clear for all to see just how much the Whites are missing Bamford, with his continued absence sure to come as a huge blow to Leeds' chances of picking up some kind of result against Chelsea this evening - with a loss against the Blues potentially all but spelling the end of the club's two-year stint in the top tier of English football.

AND in other news: Marsch must finally unleash "standout" 19 y/o Leeds talent v Chelsea, he "isn't afraid"