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One in and one out for Leeds United’s Sam Allardyce as major pre-West Ham update emerges

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Leeds United are to be without four players for the trip to West Ham this weekend, with Marc Roca the latest absentee.

Leeds come into this weekend aiming to spring a fightback in the battle to stay in the Premier League, sitting a point adrift as things stand with only two games left.

Their opponents this weekend are West Ham, who come into Sunday’s outing off the back of their Europa Conference League triumph last night against AZ Alkmaar.

Leeds team news

Ahead of the match, Sam Allardyce shared important team news for the match, with the usual suspects still out injured for the rest of the season in Luis Sinisterra, Tyler Adams, and Stuart Dallas.

There is another injury for Allardyce to contend with, as he confirmed Marc Roca will not be fit to travel to the London Stadium this weekend.

Will Cooper play?

Amidst the setbacks of Roca and the others, Allardyce did have good news to share as he revealed Liam Cooper is fit again after his glute issues that arose in the first half of the defeat to Bournemouth.

Cooper is yet to play under Big Sam but could feature this weekend – per Phil Hay:

West Ham v Leeds predictions?

West Ham win

West Ham win

Draw

Draw

Leeds win

Leeds win

Cooper being back is a boost to our left side, especially when you consider that we have our only left-back suspended.

Junior Firpo might be the only natural left-back we have, but he should not play again for Leeds, because that short-lived purple patch earlier this year has fizzled out and we’re seeing the same issues.

As for Cooper, I don’t expect him to regain his starting berth, unless Allardyce is minded to shift Max Wöber to left-back.

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Leeds United season ticket holder since 2013/14, currently situated in the middle of the FA5 noise. From Pablo Hernandez to 5-1 drubbings, I've seen it all at Elland Road.