Marcelo Bielsa gave his thoughts to the media, ahead of the Premier League clash against West Ham United at Elland Road.

The fixture takes place on Friday evening (8pm) and will be the first time the two teams have met since a 1-1 draw whilst playing the Championship, during the 2011/12 season.

Beginning with team news, Bielsa left nobody with any doubt, by naming his starting XI.

“The starting XI will be; Meslier, Dallas, Ayling, Cooper, Alioski, Phillips, Klich, Rodrigo, Harrison, Raphinha, Bamford,” the head coach revealed.

The reason behind revealing his team two days prior to the match was because of injuries within the squad and to avoid speculation as to who might replace them.

On Koch’s injury, Bielsa said: “The surgery went well and the length of his absence depends on the evolution, but he is likely to be out around three months.”

He continued: “Jamie Shackleton and Pablo Hernandez whilst they don’t have the rhythm we would like, they are healthy and available.

“Diego Llorente won’t be available as he has a muscular problem, so it will take him a while to recover.

“It’s a muscular problem and we won’t be able to count on him for a least two weeks, but we have to see how long it will take to cure this problem completely.”

On the match itself, Bielsa knows that West Ham will prove difficult opponents with David Moyes at the helm, a coach he knows is experienced at Premier League level.

“The teams that are stabilised in the Premier League, they have the possibility to correct the aspects that they feel are weaknesses.

“If a team continues with the same coach then these improvements are more visible.

“What West Ham have, is that they have two players per position in their attacking positions who are similar or of the same quality.

“For example West Ham don’t have in their XI Andriy Yarmolenko, Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio.

“They loaned out Felipe Anderson, this gives you the idea they’re a team that has a good offensive potential.

“They have a structure of seven defensive players which is also very solid.

“They also have a clear view of when they need to attack, defend, and when they need to play, which are all aspects of a good coach.”