Leeds United's Kalvin Phillips ruled out with shoulder injury but surgery is not required

The defensive midfielder went to ground, earning a free-kick but clutched his shoulder in agony in the latter stages of the 1-0 defeat and was visibly struggling before the full-time whistle sounded.

Leeds have now confirmed the 24-year-old has sustained an injury that could keep him out for the next five games, starting with Aston Villa on Friday night.

The good news, however, is that surgery will not be required.

A club spokesperson said: "Kalvin began his rehab at Thorp Arch this morning and will be working hard with the medical team to return to action as soon as possible."

His absence presents a challenge for Marcelo Bielsa, who would ordinarily put centre-half Pascal Struijk in the central defensive midfield role. Struijk was drafted into the starting line-up last night when Liam Cooper pulled out of the warm up with a groin injury sustained in international duty. And Struijk himself later appeared to suffer a problem after a slip that led to Raul Jimenez' winner for Wolves. Struijk was then withdrawn from the game by Bielsa.

Another of the Argentine's options for the vacancy, new signing Diego Llorente, is also out with a groin problem. Bielsa could opt to field Stuart Dallas in the centre of midfield and bring Gjanni Alioski in at left-back, and box-to-box midfielder Jamie Shackleton could also come in to play alongside Mateusz Klich, who would presumably drop deeper.

Alfie McCalmont, who has been moulded into the Phillips role by Bielsa, is currently out on loan with Oldham Athletic and 20-year-old Oliver Casey has featured in the position for the Under 23s previously but is a natural centre-half.

Whoever gets the nod from Bielsa will have to contend with Phillips' in-form England team-mate Jack Grealish. The 25-year-old has been pulling the strings for Villa, offensively, contributing 3.5 key passes per game and notching three goals and three assists, although the latter all came in one game against the champions Liverpool. He's winning close to four free-kicks per game and completing 3.3 successful dribbles per 90.