Leeds United have very few weaknesses, it’s why they sit top of the Championship and on the verge of promotion to the Premier League with six games remaining.

They arrive at Ewood Park with the joint best defensive record, just 33 goals conceded in their 40 matches, and with an unrivalled 19 clean sheets.

In on-loan defender Ben White they possess arguably the league’s best central defender, a future England international in the waiting for those who have watched him closely. But they aren’t unbreachable.

In their three meetings with Bielsa’s Leeds in the last two seasons, the win at Ewood in October 2018 feels a long time ago now, they have scored five times. All five have come from set plays.

There were the two headed goals from Danny Graham and Darragh Lenihan in that Ewood win, and then Derrick Williams also headed home a Stewart Downing delivery when the sides met at Elland Road last November.

The Boxing Day meeting of 2018, the ending of which many Rovers fans would like to forget, also saw the trusty left boot of Charlie Mulgrew score from the spot, and then from a 25-yard free kick that should have seen them to victory, but for a crazy four minutes of injury time.

So could set plays hold the key? Well 11 of the 33 goals Leeds have conceded this season have been from set pieces. Including the three penalties as well, that’s more than 40 per cent of the 33 goals they have conceded coming from that route.

Leeds have scored the fewest in the division (8) from dead ball situations, while Rovers have conceded the fewest with six.

While Leeds conceded 13 goals from that route last season,  Rovers scored 16 times, and are three short of reaching that figure this season.

That does come as something of a surprise given they haven’t scored from a direct free kick all season, Downing going close to breaking that against Wigan last weekend.

So while they have missed Mulgrew’s delivery, the stats would show that they have still been a threat from corners and wide free kicks.

Darragh Lenihan, Tosin Adarabioyo and Derrick Williams have all come up with three goals each, albeit the latter pair have both scored goals not generally associated with central defenders.

Mulgrew made his first appearance since the opening day in the defeat at Barnsley, with Lenihan missing out as he attended the birth of his first child.

The Irishman will be back against Leeds, but is there a possibility that Mulgrew keeps his place? Rovers did finish the game with a back three, so Mowbray be tempted to play Adarabioyo, Lenihan and Mulgrew in a three-man defence. They could then utilise Ryan Nyambe as a right wing-back, have Downing on the left, and possibly utilise Elliott Bennett’s energy in midfield should they be without the similar attributes of Lewis Travis.

Even if Mulgrew doesn’t play, you’d hope that Rovers can find the right level of delivery to trouble Leeds.

Speaking after that October 2018 win, Mowbray said: “The set-plays are something we worked really hard on. Pontus Jansson is a monster of a man and (Liam) Cooper is dominant; but you take those two out of the box, we felt they were vulnerable, which is what happened.

“Whoever was getting marked by those two played wide; for the first goal Graham came powering through the middle and scored. For the second goal, Lenihan did the same.”

While Jansson’s departure hasn’t been felt with the excellent form of White, an injury doubt to captain Liam Cooper would be a blow to Leeds’ aerial ability.

Mowbray credited the work of coaches David Lowe and Ben Benson after the well-worked corner routine that saw Rovers took an early lead against Bristol City in December, having seen a flaw in the way the Robins set up from corners.

You can bet it’s something they have concentrated on going in to this game – but so too will they be aware of the threats that Leeds pose all over the pitch.

Indeed, Leeds could view Rovers as being vulnerable from their own corners, such is their counter-attacking quality, with six goals coming through that particularly route this season.