Daniel Farke will be forced into making unwanted Leeds United changes this weekend as the Whites take on Watford at Elland Road. The manager made two alterations to his side to keep things fresh on Wednesday night as Leeds extended their unbeaten run to five games with a hard-fought draw against Hull City.
But, he’ll be forced into more changes this weekend against the Hornets with Joe Rodon set to miss the game through suspension following his sending off at the MKM Stadium. Wilfried Gnonto is rated as a doubt, too, of course, after limping out of Wednesday’s clash after just 21 minutes.
With Leeds looking to secure their first league win on home soil on Saturday, here’s a look at some of the changes Farke will be mulling over.
As mentioned above, Rodon will sit out of the clash against Watford as he serves his one-match suspension. At least one change will come in the backline, then, and on the face of it, it seems Farke has a straight choice between Charlie Cresswell and Liam Cooper.
Cooper was the man chosen off the bench on Wednesday to slot into the hole left by Rodon at centre-back in East Yorkshire with Cresswell left out of the squad altogether. But, it remains to be seen if Cooper is fit enough to play 90 minutes after returning from injury for the first time on Wednesday after a month and a half on the sidelines.
Cresswell is the right-sided option, meaning Pascal Struijk wouldn’t have to change sides and after turning in a solid performance or two at the start of the season, he’ll have every right to feel hard done by to find himself on the peripheries. There’s expected to be a change at full-back, too, with Sam Byram coming back into the starting XI.
The 30-year-old was given a rest at the MKM Stadium, emerging in the 89th minute to replace Luke Ayling but he ought to be ready to come back into the fold. On what flank, though, remains to be seen given Ayling has played a lot of football and at the age of 32, might be due a rest.
Midfield
Farke has shown a reluctance to switch up his preferred midfield pairing of Archie Gray and Ethan Ampadu and the pair played 90 minutes alongside each other once more at Hull. As such, it seems changes will be only be made in the middle if they are necessary.
Both Gray and Ampadu have played a lot of football and with games coming thick and fast, there could be benefits to bringing in either Glen Kamara or Ilia Gruev.
Attack
We’ll likely learn more on Gnonto’s injury this afternoon as Farke holds his pre-match press conference but given the way he left the field on Wednesday night he must be at least a doubt for Saturday’s quick turnaround. As such, a change could be made on the left, while Dan James’ difficult showing against his hometown club on Wednesday night ensures his place in the starting XI is far from secure.
Crysencio Summerville is surely one man in line to come into the side after his strong run out against the Tigers. Summerville was a menace on the night and succeeded in sending a message to Farke who had dropped him from the starting line-up.
Jaidon Anthony is another pushing to be involved and while he has struggled to make his mark so far, he’ll be keen to make his full debut at Elland Road and find some traction at his new club.
Joel Piroe and Georginio Rutter didn’t shine as brightly as they did against Millwall and while it’s hard to see changes coming up top, Leeds do have Ian Poveda and Joe Gelhardt available, while Patrick Bamford isn’t far away from full fitness, either.
