yorkshirepost.co.uk

Leeds team news: Forward missing but more good news than bad

Leeds United will be without Noah Okafor at Villa Park on Saturday, but his absence is offset by the returns of Pascal Struijk, Daniel James and Anton Stach.

Okafor injured his hamstring in Sunday's FA Cup penalty shoot-out victory over Birmingham City, and will therefore not be back in the second city for the Premier League match against Aston Villa.

"Sadly, Noah Okafor has suffered an injury in the last cup game, a hamstring injury," said manager Daniel Farke. "He will be out in between two and four weeks.

"It's a bit too early to judge, but he will definitely miss the next two games, so definitely the Villa game and also the Man City game (the following Saturday)

HAMSTRING INJURY: Leeds United's Noah Okafor (Image: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.)placeholder image

HAMSTRING INJURY: Leeds United's Noah Okafor (Image: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.)

"Apart from this, just good news. Anton Stach is back in training and available. Pascal Struijk, back in training, available and also Daniel James is back.

"Hopefully he stays fit right now, but it looks good."

To only have one player missing through injury at this stage of the season is something Farke took great satisfaction from.

"You have to deal with injuries," he said. "Every club has this.

"We are in the top two in terms of physical output for every game in the Premier League. We just can't dominate the games with possession. We always have to invest more or try to invest more than the opponent and have to go over the line and there's also a knock or even a stretch of the muscle and you have to deal with it.

"Overall, we are in a really good position.

"At this stage, February, the pitches are tough so it's overall not too bad."

Farke was speaking to the media for the first time since Leeds were paired with his former club Norwich City in the FA Cup fifth round. That the game is at home is of greater significance to Farke.

"It felt like 58 games we are waiting for a home draw in the FA Cup and it's always perfect if we can present our home supporters with one.

"We had unbelievable travelling support in our away games, Derby and Birmingham but it's still better to play in a full-packed Elland Road.

"I'm pretty happy with the draw."

The match will be shown live on TNT Sports on March 8, kicking off at 4.3opm.

Read full news in source page