Leeds United will be looking to maintain their winning start to the new Premier League season when they go to Arsenal tonight. Only their best will do against the title challengers.
Losing captain Ethan Ampadu to injury has not helped their cause as they look to defy the odds and cause a huge upset. The holding midfielder hurt his medial cruciate knee ligaments in a tackle with Tim Iroegbunam in Monday's victory over Everton. It means Ampadu will now be out of action until after the international break. Ilia Gruev and Ao Tanaka are vying to replace Ampadu in the middle of the park.
“Ethan is a big miss,” said Farke, who led the Whites to the Championship title last term. “There’s no doubt about this. We don’t have to lie and to sugarcoat the situation.
“But we have players in our squad who interpret the role slightly differently and we will find the solutions.”
New signings Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor are set to feature in the Whites' first away match of the campaign. On Calvert-Lewin's fitness, Farke said: "Each and every training session with the team is important for him. He had a long summer break, followed by a few weeks of individual training, where his general endurance was at a really good level. However, what he has missed is team training, and for that reason, each session is crucial.
"He has made a decent impression, already well integrated, and you can see from day to day that he is growing. When we will use him for the first time, we’ll decide spontaneously. From a fitness point of view, he’s in good shape."
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Leeds United
Okafor took part in AC Milan's pre-season programme and "doesn't need three or four weeks to build up" his match sharpness, according to Farke. Both Okafor and Calvert-Lewin could be used as impact players off the bench this weekend.
Slovenian international Jaka Bijol, a £15m summer recruit from Serie A side Udinese, could make his debut after serving a one-match suspension. His ban carried over from his time at Udinese last year. It will be interesting to see whether Farke keeps faith with Pascal Struijk at centre-back or throw Bijol straight in at the deep end.
Isaac Schmidt is expected to miss out for the second match running. The full-back has found game time hard to come by under Farke and has been heavily linked with a move to Werder Bremen.
United squad vs Arsenal: Perri, Darlow, Cairns, Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Bijol, Bornauw, Gudmundsson, Byram, Gruev, Longstaff, Tanaka, Stach, James, Aaronson, Harrison, Gnonto, Okafor, Ramazani, Piroe, Nmecha, Calvert-Lewin.
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