Chelsea v Leeds United - Marcelo Bielsa press conference on four new injuries for Whites and Robin Koch

I always think that adversity is a stimulant to create or resolve situations. I understand that there’s certain pessimsim because the upcoming games are difficult. Instead of bringing back players, we are creating new absentees. But when we play against big teams, I think that there’s an added strength. It comes from when the supposed weak one has the opportunity to win against a team which, before playing them, is better. Football has that thing which is so attractive. It allows for the hopes, for the fantasy that contradicts the logical reason. So my position is one of optimism and fortitude. And it’s not a position that’s just individual. It’s the conclusions that I make by evaluating the mood of the team. I understand that in adversity, one of the responses could be fatalism. But there’s another option. That is the optimism, the hope, and the fight. I never say we are going to win. I always say that we are going to do our utmost to deserve to win.

The injuries are in the tendon, not in the fibre of the muscle. I wanted to be precise. It’s not that they’re not muscular injuries - but it’s the tendon, not the muscle fibres. The average of players that we have had out has always been four, in some short periods, we have had five or six. In this moment, the absentees in attack would be Bamford and Rodrigo, and for the trio defensively, it’s Cooper and Phillips. I think we’re going to recover Koch, and Gelhardt has given options in that position, and Pascal also. Cresswell, when he’s had to play, has also given positive responses. Tyler is evolving in the centre of the attack. Also, Klich is an option as a defensive midfielder. Forshaw has played as a defensive mid before, and he’s done it well. Of course, we didn’t expect to recover from four injuries to have four new ones. But I’m always optimistic, and I always work so that difficulties harm us as least as possible, and this case is the same. With respect to signings, any player in the club is in a condition to bring in that is better than the players we have at our disposal will be a possibility that is welcome. But we all know the difficulties of the winter transfer market. So it’s difficult to find players who are competing who don’t have a place in the team that they are in. Normally those who are competing have a space within their team, and whether it’s an economically viable option, for those three conditions to be met, it is not simple.

I haven’t heard that information from the medical staff. But it has common sense, as you just mentioned. If the time that he needs to recover from this injury exceeds the one that he needs to recover from his shoulder, then it makes sense. But as we don’t know how long it is going to take to recover from his current injury, I can’t apply my common sense to your inquiry.

The processes to prevent them being contaminated is already out there. We abide by them to the letter of the law. We hope that there won’t be any new people contaminated within the Premier League.

Each of the games that we’re going to face, they’re all games where points are at stake, whether that be drawing or winning. We prepare ourselves with a lot of hope. The hopes and the desires are increased because they are very big opponents. And to be able to get points in those games has an added value. And we’re going to go each of those games with that desire.

I’ve already answered - it’s all subject to the evolution of the injury. I cannot express myself any further in that sense.

The time that they will be out for is subject to their evolution.

Marcelo Bielsa takes his seat.

The Whites boss will now speak to the media at 1.30pm. Check back here then for all the latest...

Ahead of this afternoon’s press conference, Leeds United have released an injury update.

Marcelo Bielsa will have more to say when he joins us at 1pm.