Daniel Farke has named his Leeds United starting XI to take on Championship league leaders Sunderland.
The Whites will be looking to round off a busy week of matches in the best possible way by becoming the first side to not only beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, but also score.
However, Leeds are going to have to do it the hard way with several of their best players sidelined through injury.
Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev are now both out long-term, leaving Leeds incredibly short in that midfield position.
Dan James, Manor Solomon and Max Wober, meanwhile, are also once again absent from tonight’s match, with the international break arguably coming at the best possible time for those three.
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Joe Rothwell of Leeds United runs with the ball with the ballduring the Sky Bet Championship match between West Bromwich Albion FC and Leeds United…
Daniel Farke names Leeds starting XI vs Sunderland
Daniel Farke was pretty limited in the number of changes he could’ve made from the one that started the 1-1 draw against Norwich City.
With Gruev set for several months on the sidelines, Joe Rothwell has been brought in for his full Leeds Championship debut.
Rothwell mentioned his lack of game time after the draw at Carrow Road and so after getting his first significant amount of minutes in that game, he now gets the chance to start.
Joining the ‘special‘ Rothwell in midfield is, of course, Ao Tanaka, who is the most likely of the two to replace the absent duo of Ampadu and Gruev just in front of the back four.
Elsewhere, it is very much more of the same for Leeds with Farke naming the same back five for the ninth league game in a row – Illan Meslier, Jayden Bogle, Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk and Junior Firpo.
Farke was criticised for bringing Largie Ramazani and Wilfried Gnonto off too early on Tuesday night and the upcoming match will show if that was the right decision, as both start again.
The only other change from Farke actually is in attack as Joel Piroe comes into the side in place of Mateo Joseph, who drops to the bench. Brenden Aaronson also starts.
Confirmed XI: Meslier; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Firpo; Tanaka, Rothwell; Gnonto, Aaronson, Ramazani; Piroe
Isaac Schmidt versatility useful on Leeds’ bench
Farke has been able to welcome back one of the injured bodies from midweek back into his squad, with Isaac Schmidt returning after one game out.
Schmidt recently revealed he has had experience in almost every single position during his career and that could come in useful in the event of any further injuries tonight.
He has taken the place of Gruev in Leeds’ matchday squad, meaning youngsters Charlie Crew, James Debayo and Sam Chambers are once again involved.
Karl Darlow, Patrick Bamford, Sam Byram, Joe Gelhardt and Joseph make up the remainder of Farke’s substitutes, which he will have to use more effectively than at Norwich.
Confirmed: Darlow, Byram, Schmidt, Debayo, Crew, Chambers, Joseph, Bamford, Gelhardt
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