The absence of Douglas, 29, an ever-present for Leeds in the Championship this season, will further stretch Bielsa’s resources.

Leeds will still be without strikers Kemar Roofe (calf) and Patrick Bamford (knee), plus midfielder Pablo Hernandez (hamstring) and defender Gaetano Berardi (knee) for Brentford’s visit to Elland Road.

“It’s a difficulty not to have all the players available,” Bielsa said. “We have the solution of (Stuart) Dallas and he played an important role before Douglas arrived.

“We also have Tom Pearce. Without minimising the impact of Douglas we always try to find solutions.

“We have more absences than we thought. I always think that on average, four players would be missing for each game.

“Now we are above this average. But I have a lot of respect for the work done by the academy and they are covering the absences of experienced players.”

Leeds returned to the top of the table on goal difference in midweek with the victory at Hull.

Tigers manager Nigel Adkins declared afterwards that Leeds were the best side he had seen in the Championship “for a very long time”, but Bielsa questioned whether such praise was warranted.

“I thank him for what he said,” Bielsa added. “Especially when it comes from someone like him who knows the Championship very well. This increases the obligation to justify the good words said about us.

“We could say that with the same players the head coach is having better results, but it’s not true because in the last season at the same time as us, Leeds had a better ranking than now.”

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