This weekend, the league title resumes with two games in four days, while the Championship returns with the competition for automatic promotion.
Leeds, along with opponents for promotion Leicester City and Ipswich Town, are playing on Friday following the international break. Leicester’s match versus Bristol City gets underway at Ashton Gate at 1:30 p.m.
Shortly after, Ipswich takes the field as they head to Blackburn Rovers for the 5.30 p.m. kickoff. Leeds will be closely monitoring the results of those two matches, and when they play Watford at Vicarage Road on Monday night, kickoff is at 8:00 p.m.
The three teams at the top of the standings are separated by just one point going into the games. With Ipswich trailing them by just one point in third place, the Whites are currently leading Leicester on goal differential.
But Leicester still has a match ahead of them. It is scheduled for next month and will take place at home against Southampton.
Leeds supporters will be closely monitoring events taking on elsewhere, even though their focus will be on the team’s own performance. Here is a glance at each squad’s injury situation ahead of the games.
Daniel Farke provided an encouraging report on Georgianio Rutter, who had minor surgery during the international break, during his pre-match press conference on Wednesday:
“He is on the road back, he was already involved in parts of team training,” he stated. That was undoubtedly a good thing. He benefited from having that procedure. He participated in varying degrees in today’s training session.
“His way is sound. I’m cautiously optimistic that he will be available for the squad and a few minutes in the next 48 hours.”
After players returned from international duty, Leeds does have some concerns about injuries.Prior to the match at Vicarage Road, Connor Roberts, Wilfried Gnonto, Lilia Gruev, and Junior Firpo will all be evaluated.
Due to hip surgery, defenseman Pascal Struijk will be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.The player without a game this season is Stuart Dallas, who completes the injured list.
Jamie Vardy, Leicester’s main man, will make a comeback from injury, according to Enzo Maresca, giving the team a boost before Championship action resumes. Due to a minor issue, the striker was unable to play against Chelsea in the FA Cup quarterfinal; however, he recovered over the international break.
Another plus is that Ricardo Pereira, an influential full-back, might make the team. The midfielder Dennis Praet, who has missed the last three games due to injury, may also play alongside the Portuguese, who hasn’t appeared since the loss to Leeds last month.
Maresca did, however, announce that Tom Cannon, the striker, and winger Kasey McAteer will not play at Ashton Gate. Callum Doyle, a defender for Leicester, will also be absent since he was given a one-match suspension following his red card against Chelsea.
“Kasey remains absent. Jamie has returned. Tomorrow, Ricky might be part of the squad. Dennis might be included in the lineup tomorrow, Maresca stated at the news conference held prior to the game.
“The sole individual that fits 100% is
“Kasey has the same issue as last time, so we need to treat him carefully so he can return and avoid getting hurt again. I hope it happens soon.
“(Cannon’s injury) is minor. He’s definitely out for Norwich and Bristol City, but he might return for Birmingham. Nelson might just sustain a minor injury.
Winger Wes Burns will miss the games during the Easter weekend, which is a blow for Ipswich ahead of their match against Blackburn.Before the international break, the Tractor Boys defeated Sheffield Wednesday 6-0, and the 29-year-old scored early in the first half. As a result, he will likely miss some time due to injury.
“It’s alright. From the
“So we’ll have it rescanned in a week or so and we’ll know a lot more than about how long the recovery’s going to be.”
Ipswich will also assess the players who have been away on international duty, including striker Kieffer Moore, who suffered disappointment in Wales’ Euros play-off against Poland.
“It’s a challenging time in terms of the international week,” McKenna added. “We’ve had Cameron [Burgess] playing on the other side of the world [in Australia], we’ve had Jeremy [Sarmiento] playing in New York, we’ve had the Welsh boys going through an emotional 120 minutes last night, in Kieffer [Moore]’s case, so that’s a challenge.
“We had the whole group back in today apart from Cameron, he’ll return to the training ground tomorrow, so we’ll make the best of the cards that are in front of us and prepare as well as we can for the game and get the whole group back together and make sure we’re going into Friday in a really good place.”
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