Pundit laughs at ‘worrying’ Leeds United defeat as Liverpool handed injury boost ahead of Whites clash

Ian Wright and Alex Scott couldn’t help but laugh as they discussed Leeds United’s heavy defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend. The pair were left concerned by the ‘space jammed’ Whites on Match of the Day 2.

Leeds played out a brilliant first half performance with Patrick Bamford handing them the lead with a sublime header, however they looked like a completely different team after the break, shipping in five goals. It is the second time the Yorkshire outfit have conceded five - losing 5-2 to Brentford in September.

Wright declared his worry for Leeds after the loss at Elland Road, claiming it was as if they had ‘lost all of their talent’. The former Arsenal striker said: “It’s like they got space jammed and someone took their talent off of them.

“That second-half performance was worrying because that’s relegation form. They were playing that badly when you need points at home, to get beaten like that after a performance like that in the first half, it’s very worrying.”

Javi Gracia’s side had the opportunity to move five points above the relegation zone on Sunday afternoon but now instead sit in 16th place - two points from the drop.

Liverpool handed injury boost

Liverpool have been handed a major boost ahead of their trip to Elland Road next week. The Reds will be confident of building on a superb second half performance against Arsenal, while their opponents could find themselves in the bottom three with another defeat.

Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez looked to have gradually found their feat in recent months, while Mohamed Salah claimed his eleventh goal of the campaign against the Gunners. However, Jurgen Klopp will have even more option up top after he confirmed that Luis Diaz should be available for the clash with Leeds.

Diaz has been sidelined with a knee injury since their 3-2 loss at Arsenal in October but will be back in full teaming training this week. The Colombian had bagged five goal contributions in only eight matches prior to his injury and has been a huge miss ever since.

While the meeting with United may come to early for Diaz to earn a place in the starting line-up, he will be eager to make an impact off the bench.