Leeds United changes for Coventry clash impacted by injury and illness as Farke weighs up congestion

Nine of Leeds United’s starters in Sunderland have started five games in 18 days and changes could finally be in the offing for Daniel Farke as Coventry City visit

Illness played its part in Leeds United’s performance at Sunderland on Tuesday night and players will need to be assessed again ahead of their next match. Last night’s lacklustre loss, after five matches in 18 days, could prompt changes to freshen up Daniel Farke’s line-up on Saturday.

Coventry City visit Elland Road for a 3pm kick-off in the Championship and the Whites will be keen to swiftly respond to their midweek misery by starting a new unbeaten run. Nine of the players who started at the Stadium of Light have started all five matches since the last international break, while Pascal Struijk has been in the last four line-ups too.

Not only has Farke been reluctant to make changes to a successful starting XI, but substtutions have generally not been coming until the 70th minute at the earliest. Assessments will be made in the coming days on who is ready to go again at Elland Road, though cold and flu symptoms did impact some of those who played on Wearside last night.

Asked if he would be tempted to freshen the team up on Saturday, Farke said: “We will see. Normally, we have a good fitness level and we will assess them and we’ll see who is really ready to start, ready to go and what’s happened in terms of injuries.

“I don’t think any player will come back for the weekend, but it’s also a bit doubtful what happens in terms of illnesses. We had, today, several players in our group who were struggling a bit with cold and we’ll see how the next days will develop.”

The players currently missing team training, and not expected to return for the weekend, are Junior Firpo, Stuart Dallas, Jamie Shackleton, Sam Byram and Ian Poveda.