Leeds United have seen Noah Okafor suffer a hamstring injury that rules him out for the next two-to-four weeks, opening the door for someone to take his place.
Premier League action returns this weekend with Leeds facing one of our toughest remaining fixtures with a trip to Aston Villa.
The Villans are still in with an outside shot of pushing for the league title, and therefore, are a very tough opponent for United.
Leeds United team news revealed: Noah Okafor ruled out with hamstring injury
Leeds knew we’d been in a serious FA Cup tie away at Birmingham City last weekend, needing penalties to see off Championship opposition.
We didn’t come away from that fixture without injury though, as Noah Okafor hobbled off late on with a hamstring problem. Daniel Farke has now confirmed that setback to rule the winger out for the next two-to-four weeks.
“Noah Okafor suffered a hamstring injury in the cup game,” Farke told the press, via the YEP.
“He will be out for between two and four weeks. It’s too early to judge but he will definitely miss Villa and Man City.”
A two-week absence would see Okafor likely miss three league games – Villa, Manchester City (H), and Sunderland (H), with the FA Cup fifth round up after that against Norwich City (H).
Daniel Farke’s use of Willy Gnonto will prove if he has a future at Leeds United
Farke also noted Okafor’s attributes as a winger that make him more susceptible to injury – his explosive pace and consistent amount of distance covered sprinting.
While Farke didn’t explicitly say how he plans to react to the Swiss winger’s setback, Leeds have to find a way of maintaining the same threat out wide that Okafor manages when he gets 1v1.
I’m expecting that it’ll be Brenden Aaronson shifting to the left with Anton Stach taking up a more advanced role like we saw away at Everton.
However, the absence of our starting left-winger pushes Willy Gnonto closer to contention.
Even though we shouldn’t expect Gnonto to start, Farke’s use (or not) of the £3.8million signing will be a big indication of where he stands at Leeds.
I’m not going to delude myself or anyone into thinking he was good at St Andrews last time out. That being said, we all know he’s good enough to impact Premier League games more than he is right now.
Okafor being out means Gnonto has much more chance of getting his opportunity in the next two games.
If Farke still isn’t willing to let him loose for longer than a brief cameo, then I think we all know where Gnonto stands at the club unfortunately.
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