Four senior Leeds United players will be missing from tonight’s squad as Farke welcomes a significant boost – View

Leeds United face Swansea City this evening in the unusual circumstance that Daniel Farke has no injuries to worry about aside from Stuart Dallas.

Injuries to key players have been a recurring theme in Leeds‘ previous seasons, and Daniel Farke has dealt with similar issues at Elland Road.

With players returning to fitness ahead of a hectic festive schedule for him and his team, things are actually looking up.

Georginio Rutter, Pascal Struijk, Sam Byram, Djed Spence, Joe Gelhardt, Jamie Shackleton, and Stuart Dallas all returned to training earlier this month after an international break, with some getting closer than others.

During the game, an issue with Liam Cooper arose in the second half, potentially giving Farke more headaches against Swansea City this week.

Apart from Dallas, Leeds appear to have everyone else in shape to play tonight, according to the manager’s press conference (via Phil Hay):

In an unusual turn of events at Leeds, the nine bench slots mean that Farke will have to make some difficult decisions about who misses out, rather than trying to fill it with two goalkeepers at the start of the season.

Patrick Bamford, Jaidon Anthony, Pascal Struijk, Ian Poveda, Wilfried Gnonto, Luke Ayling, Sam Byram, Karl Darlow, and Ilia Gruev were on the bench against Rotherham.

Now that Spence is back, another player is missing, which could be Luke Ayling, given Sam Byram‘s and Junior Firpo‘s presences in the squad.

Charlie Cresswell, Joe Gelhardt, and Jamie Shackleton will all be out, and someone from Friday’s bench will have to make way for the returning Spence.

As painful as it is, seeing the squad look that strong is a welcome headache.