The latest news ahead of Leeds United's visit to Premier League rivals Fulham on Saturday afternoon,
Leeds United will hope to secure their second win of the Premier League season when they travel to Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
With the first international break of the season now behind them, the Whites can focus on an intriguing run of fixtures over the next month as their visit to Craven Cottage precedes an away day at Wolverhampton Wanderers and a home double header with Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur.
However, all focus is currently on the meeting with Fulham this weekend and Whites boss Daniel Farke is hoping for positive news on the fitness of midfield duo Ao Tanaka and Ethan Ampadu. Goalkeeper Lucas Perri will definitely miss out and Farke has admitted there are ‘question marks’ over the availability of forwards Joel Piroe and Lukas Nmecha ahead of the game.
That has raised the prospect of Dominic Calvert-Lewin making his first Premier League start for the Whites after the former Everton striker joined the club on a free transfer following his departure from the Toffees at the end of June. The 28-year-old has made two substitute appearances during the first weeks of the season after coming off the bench in the goalless draw with Newcastle United and the Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.
So what are the chances of the 11-times capped England international making his first start for Leeds in the visit to Craven Cottage?
What has Graham Smyth said about Dominic Calvert-Lewin?
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He told the Inside Elland Road podcast: “I don't see why not at this stage. He's a month into team training, isn't he? He didn't have pre-season.
“They will be cautious with him because if he breaks down earlier in the season, then the decision to sign him suddenly looks pretty terrible. You absolutely have to manage him and you have to make sure that you get the most possible minutes out of him across the season. You can't just think we need a striker for Fulham. We need a striker that can play a lot of minutes between now and the end of the season. So I think if they do take that decision, they'll be very, very careful with it. But Nmecha, he's played a fair bit.
“His match fitness would be probably sharper because he's had a longer preseason as well. If he's only had a little kick, I don't know that it would rule him out of starting. So I think there's still a little bit of intrigue there as far as Fulham go in terms of predicting what Farke might do.”
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