Andy Couzens believes that Leeds United can go one better in the race for promotion in 2019/20 if they avoid the plague of injuries they suffered from last season.

Leeds contended no fewer than 45 injuries over the course of last season, but Marcelo Bielsa worked wonders at Elland Road and had the Whites finishing in third after 46 games.

They were in control of the automatic promotion race up until game-week 43, before three defeats in four ended their top-two ambitions and Derby County stunned them in the play-off semi-final.

And, for Couzens, who featured for Leeds in the 90s, it was injuries to key personnel that ultimately cost Bielsa’s side a place in this year’s Premier League.

“The biggest thing we’ve got this year is that we need to keep people injury free,” Couzens told FLW in an exclusive interview with Chief Editor, Sam Rourke.

“I think last year, the injuries cost us massively. The injuries we had weren’t little injuries these were operation injuries.  

“We had a lot of players out a lot of the time, we had Ayling out, Roofe out, Bamford out, Jansson out, Cooper out – these are the big players in the team. We can’t have that, you look at Norwich, and to be fair, Sheffield United, they had a settled team for the full season.”

There was a feeling that Leeds might enter the new season suffering a hangover from the way last year concluded, but Bielsa’s side put those doubts to bed on Sunday by recording a 3-1 victory on the road at Bristol City.

Goals from Pablo Hernandez, Patrick Bamford and Jack Harrison put the Whites in full control, delivering a much-needed boost ahead of this weekend’s return to Elland Road.

In the eyes of Couzens, if last season’s problems don’t repeat themselves, he feels Leeds will be a Premier League outfit in 2020/21, concluding: “If we can stay injury free, I think we can go one better than we did last year.”