Leeds United will travel to Premier League rivals Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
The Whites head into the game looking to secure a first win since they saw off Everton at Elland Road on the opening night of the season and give themselves a major boost coming off the back of the first international break of the new campaign.
There are high hopes midfield duo Ao Tanaka and Ethan Ampadu will be back in contention as they reach the final stages of their comebacks from knee injuries and Farke has confirmed he will make a late call on whether either or both players could be handed starts at Craven Cottage. Forwards Joel Piroe and Lukas Nmecha remain doubts after picking up injuries in training but Farke has revealed summer signing Lucas Perri will definitely miss out after the former Lyon goalkeeper was sent for a scan on a thigh injury.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the Whites boss said: “I can confirm Perri is definitely out for the game. We've had a scan, and he will definitely miss the next two games. So, the Fulham game, and also the next away game (Wolves). Then we will have a bit more clarity on when he will return.”
That means Wales international Karl Darlow should be handed his first Premier League start since he appeared for Newcastle United in a 3-3 draw against Brentford in November 2021 in what was Eddie Howe’s first game in charge of the Magpies. The injury also means Illan Meslier is likely to be named amongst the substitutes on the back of a summer transfer window that brought ongoing speculation over his future at Elland Road.
What has Graham Smyth said about the Leeds United goalkeeper situation?
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Speaking on the Inside Elland Road podcast, he said: “There were still a couple of little moments where you thought, oh, that was slightly shaky or I would have liked him (Darlow) to be a bit more certain with that. But he just needed to come in and calm everything down, not make any terrible, hilarious gaffes and just be solid enough. That was what everyone needed because the goalkeeper position was causing panic attacks for half the fan base.
“And that wasn't good because you felt the nerves in the stadium. I remember when Meslier was under a big high ball and you could actually hear 30,000 people go, oh, make this really uncertain, horrible noise - and that translates to the game.
“They needed to take that narrative away. I agree that it took too long to get to that point. I think Farke was too patient, far too patient with Meslier. But when Darlow came in, I thought he did okay. I was speaking to a goalkeeper coach at a Premier League club and he was saying about how the fans seemed to be a bit ‘hmm’ about Perri, particularly with his kicking. But he felt that Darlow was a very, very capable player, even at this level.
“But he just hasn't played at this level for a long time. He hasn't played regular Premier League football for a very long time. So it's a big test and it's a big, big responsibility because whereas in the Championship, if Leeds dropped points, which didn't happen very often, you were pretty confident because of what we'd seen from in the Farke era that they would just come straight back and put together another pretty good run of games, performances, results.”
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