Leeds United men make injury returns at Millwall with new faces on bench but stars miss out
Leeds United’s men return from injury at Millwall, with new faces on the bench, but stars are absent.
Leeds United have made one change to their squad for Sunday’s return to Championship action against Millwall, with new faces on the bench.
Sam Byram returns from a groin injury to start, with Jamie Shackleton dropping to the bench as the only alteration. New signings Ilia Gruev and Jaidon Anthony make their Whites debut as replacements, although Djed Spence, who was an injury doubt, is absent, as is captain Liam Cooper, who has just recently returned to training after recovering from a damaged plantar fascia.
Dan James also returns from a groin ailment to join Glen Kamara on the bench as the summer acquisition from Rangers waits for his first start. Before the international break, Kamara made his Whites debut as an 88th-minute replacement in a goalless draw at home against Sheffield Wednesday.
However, Kamara remains on the bench as 17-year-old Archie Gray maintains his run of starts in midfield alongside Ethan Ampadu. Gray started all seven of United’s first seven games of the season, but he did not play for England’s under-17s during the international break due to Leeds controlling his workload and a slight injury.
Summer signing Spence was handed his first Leeds outing from the bench against the Owls but the injured Tottenham loanee star is missing from today’s matchday squad against the Lions. Farke revealed at Friday’s pre-match press conference that Spence was a major doubt after suffering a knock to his knee in training. The full back had earlier missed some training sessions due to private reasons.
But fellow new summer recruits Gruev and Anthony appear amongst the substitutes for the first time having signed too late to feature against the Owls. Mateo Joseph, Darko Gyabi, Leo Hjelde and the injured Spence all drop off the bench that featured against Sheffield Wednesday to make way for James, Anthony, Gruev and latterly Shackleton who is replaced by Byram in the XI itself.
Patrick Bamford, Junior Firpo and Stuart Dallas remain out injured. Bamford will miss United’s next three games as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury but Farke hopes the striker might return to team training by the end of next week or perhaps or the week after. Dallas remains sidelined as he continues on the long road back from his femoral fracture injury but the Northern Ireland international is improving.
Millwall manager Gary Rowett has made four changes to his starting lineup, bringing in Bart Bialkowski, Casper de Norre, Ryan Longman, and Allan Campbell. Matija Sarkic (quad) and Shaun Hutchinson (calf) are both ruled out, with Zian Flemming and George Saville dropping to the bench.
Millwall manager Gary Rowett has made four changes to his starting lineup, bringing in Bart Bialkowski, Casper de Norre, Ryan Longman, and Allan Campbell. Matija Sarkic (quad) and Shaun Hutchinson (calf) are both ruled out, with Zian Flemming and George Saville dropping to the bench.
Bialkowski, Norton-Cuffy, Leonard, Cooper, Wallace, Longman, Mitchell, De Norre, Campbell, Bradshaw, and Nisbet for Millwall. Trueman, McNamara, Flemming, Watmore, Emakhu, Saville, Esse, Adom-Malaki, Harding are the substitutes.
Meslier; Ayling, Rodon, Struijk, Byram; Ampadu, Gray; Summerville, Gnonto, Piroe, Rutter; Ampadu, Gray; Summerville, Gnonto, Piroe, Rutter. Darlow, Cresswell, Shackleton, Gruev, Kamara, Poveda, Anthony, James, Gelhardt are the substitutes.
Chris Kavanagh is the official referee.
