Leeds United will have to do without a left-sided centre-back against Chelsea after Pascal Struijk was ruled out with injury.
With Jaka Bijol fit again, Daniel Farke will have no problem fielding a back three but managers often like their outside centre-backs to play on their favoured side and Bijol, Joe Rodon, James Justin and Sebastiaan Bornauw are all right-footed.
"The worst thing is that you miss a player in red-hot form," reflected Farke. "Pascal was a rock in the last weeks.
"Of the more or less natural centre-backs, he's the only left-footed centre-back.
"If you play with three at the back, it makes a little bit of a difference. If you play a right-footed player there (at left-sided centre-back), you have different passing angles.
"And there's also his strength in the air. In the last game he won so many headers. It's quite important. Offensive-wise, it changes everything a little bit.
HIP INJURY: Leeds United's Pascal Struijk (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)placeholder image
HIP INJURY: Leeds United's Pascal Struijk (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
"But it's not like we have to change our whole approach."
Playing in the overblown European Cup and a run to the League Cup semi-finals means Chelsea are far more used to midweek matches. Tuesday will be their 17th this season, compared to Leeds' fifth.
But having played their weekend game against Nottingham Forest on a Friday means Farke does not see a need to change his team for freshness. Anton Stach also has a hip problem but Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ilia Gruev are set to shake off the illness and niggle respectively they had against Forest.
"From Friday to Tuesday you don't normally have to rotate too much because you have four proper nights to prepare," he explained.
DIFFERENT DYNAMIC: Leeds United manager Daniel Farke likes a left-footer on the left of his back three (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)placeholder image
DIFFERENT DYNAMIC: Leeds United manager Daniel Farke likes a left-footer on the left of his back three (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Bijol and Lukas Nmecha were unused substitutes on Friday, but are ready to play.
On Bijol, Farke said: "He looks good. He's nearly been back in training a week so each day helps. Before the injury he played many games in a row, this also helps.
"It's always a bit more tricky for a player like DJ (Daniel James), for example, when he has more or less five or six months in a row without regular playing. It always helps when you have had a spell of several performances in a row on a really good level.
"You don't change too much on the centre-back position normally during the game and for the last minutes (against Forest on Friday), I brought Sebastiaan Bonauw on with more minutes (under his belt) recently.
"I didn't want to bring a player on who was out for quite a while into such a difficult period of the game.
"Lukas just had two (training) sessions with us before the game (since his hamstring injury) – the day before the game and the morning session on the gameday.
"He looked sharp, I have to say, but due to the fact that we were in lead, I didn't want to take too much risk with him.
"Also we needed Dominic the whole time on the pitch."