Bamford a 'big miss' but Leeds star insists they can improve ahead of crunch run

Bamford, who received his first England cap earlier this year, returned from injury with a bang on Sunday, scoring a last-minute equaliser against Brentford.

That was the striker's first game since September after picking up an ankle injury, but there are reports that he could be back on the treatment table after injuring himself again during his wild celebrations.

Bamford isn't the only first-team regulars to have been missing for the Whites this season, with Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper the latest to join the list in an injury-hit campaign for Mercola Bielsa's team.

Roberts concedes they have struggled at times within key players, and explains it's why they aren't quite hitting the heights of last season.

"He [Bamford] obviously brought a lot of goals last season," Roberts told talkSPORT.

"And he also brought a lot of assists, so it's not just him scoring the goals, it's him creating them as well.

"So, he's obviously been a big miss and was a big player for us last season.

"I think we've been pretty unfortunate as well this season with injuries at certain times and multiple injuries in the same kind of position.

"We didn't have many defenders at one point, so we've been unfortunate in that circumstance, but we're a small squad and we trust everybody in the squad."

Someone who will have missed Bamford more than most is his manager, Bielsa.

The Argentinian has heavily relied on the striker over the past few seasons, having helped turn him into one of the country's best goalscorers.

And, despite Bielsa's inability to speak too much English, Roberts has described the detail the legendary boss will go into in preparation for a game.

"Yeah, he doesn't speak English with us either! There's obviously a translator that's always on hand," Roberts added.

"The relationship is good, it's very football-related, so we're always having individual meetings and team meetings about the game, the previous game, and then of course looking forward to the next game.

"So, it's very detailed and we do put a lot of work into analyzing our past performances and the team that we're playing next."

And, speaking of who Leeds are playing next, they face Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool in their next four games - with all bar the Arsenal game away from home.

It's a tough run of fixtures, but Roberts insists that they will approach those games in the same way they any other, which is something that has made them so entertaining to watch since they returned to the Premier League.

"In the way that we approach games, we'll be backing ourselves and we're going to go into the game as we always do," said Roberts.

"We'll go with no fear, we're going to press teams, we're going to attack, we're going to be open, and that's just the style of play that we've got and the kind of mentality we have going into games.

"It's obviously a difficult run of fixtures from a neutral point of view, but we go into it the same as we went into Brentford at the weekend."