Leeds United captain Liam Cooper remains doubtful for Wigan Athletic clash

The 27-year-old was forced to pull out of the warm-up ahead of last Saturday's 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in LS11.

United initially played down the issue afterwards believing it to be a small muscular problem but he is now a major doubt for the Easter weekend fixtures.

Cooper's absence opened the door for a first start in over six months for Whites defender Gaetano Berardi, who had been missing with a ruptured hamstring, and it appears the 30-year-old will line-up once again in defence.

Leeds host Paul Cook's side on Good Friday ahead of an Easter Monday trip to Brentford in which the Whites skipper also remains touch and go for.

Although he isn't expected to start against the Tics, Bielsa hasn't fully ruled the defender out yet.

"We want to play with the same team as the previous game," Bielsa said, "because Cooper is not going to have a chance to come back to the team.

"It’s very difficult for him to be ready to play the game. I cannot say that he is one hundred per cent out, but I cannot say he has a lot of chance either.

"It's difficult to create a conclusion of this kind of situation because the information I give has to be accurate. In this case, it’s not easy to have precision in the answer. If I say Cooper is not going to play, but it may not be like this."