Leeds United in ‘better position’ for Blackburn Rovers game after good news on injury and illness front

Leeds United in ‘better position’ for Blackburn Rovers game after good news on injury and illness front

Leeds United’s recent injury and illness victims came through Tuesday night’s game against Sunderland unscathed and are available to face Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Graham Smyth

Leeds will be without Pascal Struijk for the remainder of the season after the defender went under the knife. He and midfielder Darko Gyabi both saw their campaigns curtailed by groin surgery at the end of March. For Struijk it was his second operation of the season, having suffered a double hernia in November, while Gyabi was forced to cut short a half-season loan at Plymouth Argyle.

Jamie Shackleton was also missing from the squad that hosted Sunderland at Elland Road on Tuesday night with a groin problem of his own, while Stuart Dallas announced his retirement on Wednesday afternoon due to the injury he sustained against Manchester City in April 2022.

Daniel Farke had some doubts over the availability of Ethan Ampadu for Tuesday’s game due to a bout of illness, but the defender passed fit and managed to play every minute against the Black Cats. Willy Gnonto and Connor Roberts started on the bench but made late appearances as they attempt to get fully up to speed after recent muscle problems.

“All the players came through the last game all are available,” said Farke. “For Ethan it was important to recover a bit. Good to have a few more days for Willy and Connor to recover, they came through with no problems. We’re in a much better position than 10 days ago.”

Farke has lamented the fact that Dallas will not be available to him at all but is glad to still have the Ulsterman in the camp until the end of the season. He said: “Obviously I would prefer to have him available for the games, but to have his experience and personality, he’s always there before and after the game, calms the nerves and motivates if necessary. We have a young group, we finished the last game with Cree Summerville 22, Mateo Joseph 20, Willy Gnonto just 20, Georginio Rutter in his early 20s, 21 I think, Archie Gray, Illian Meslier. To have a proper Leeds legend who went through the ups and downs, involved in a promotion battle, successfully involved, it’s important to have these guys around. You need the energy and enthusiasm of the youth and experience of the more experienced players. Sadly it’s not a guarantee we will succeed but it’s good to have him around.”