Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has given his verdict on the latest injury crisis at Elland Road this season, with Stuart Dallas the latest player to join the growing injury list at the club. 

Dallas has been ruled out of action with a stress fracture to his foot, which is likely to see the left-back sidelined for 4-6 weeks, so it's likely that he will miss the whole of the festive period.

The Leeds boss has revealed in a recent press conference that Jamie Shackleton is set to replace Dallas in the starting XI ahead of their game against QPR this weekend.

"I'm sure I've done something wrong because God is punishing me! Jamie Shackleton will replace Stuart Dallas at right-back."

"This is thanks to the work the academy did for the first team," Bielsa admitted.

Dallas joins Luke Ayling and Liam Cooper as the defensive absentees for the promotion chasing Whites.

Bielsa will be hoping that he can have his key players available as quickly as possible so that they can help aid their promotion bid this season.

Shackleton has big shoes to fill as Dallas has looked impressive in recent weeks, but he will be keen to stake a claim for a regular starting spot in the Leeds team over the festive period.

It's sure to be a tough test for Bielsa's side this weekend against Steve McClaren's team who have shown glimpses that on their day, they can compete with the top sides in the Championship.

The Verdict: 

Shackleton is probably the only recognised option to have at right-back for Bielsa.

The injury crisis at Elland Road is quite frankly, a joke.

The youngster can certainly do a job in place of Dallas, but it's far from ideal having to play Shackleton at this stage of the season.

If Marcelo Bielsa's injury problems are to worsen over the Christmas period, then you fear they could drop out of the promotion race due to having to play fringe players in their league campaign.