If illness does not interfere, Daniel Farke hopes to have the same team available for Coventry City as he had against Sunderland.
In an effort to stop the sickness from spreading throughout the camp, Patrick Bamford did not play in Leeds’ victory against Blackburn Rovers over the weekend and instead showed up at the Stadium of Light wearing a face mask. The striker was able to play again after being sidelined for the second half, but he was unable to tie the score in Sunderland’s 1-0 victory.
Farke is not expecting any of the three players to return for Saturday’s Elland Road match against Coventry: Junior Firpo, Sam Byram, and Jamie Shackleton. All three could have started at left-back against the Black Cats. “Yes, we shall see,” he replied. Our levels of fitness are generally good. We’ll evaluate them to determine who’s prepared to
While Firpo [hamstring] might rejoin the club before Byram [hamstring] does not return to action until the new year, Farke has not yet established the full extent of Shackleton’s glute issue. Djed Spence, a right-back who covered for Farke on the other side of the back four, did, at last, make his club debut at Sunderland. The Spurs loanee made it through the game, or at least 82 minutes of it, which relieved the boss.
“I was pleased he was able to go for such a long time, especially because he hadn’t played that long at left-back,” stated Farke. “He handled it pretty nicely. It goes without saying that placement may have been improved at times. It was hard even for him to employ his physicality and pace. Overall, I’d say it was a strong full debut, and it’s excellent that he still has some minutes left.
Before losing to managerless Sunderland, Leeds had a seven-game winning streak. Farke will want his team to get back to winning ways when they play the 15th-place Sky Blues at home.
