Daniel Farke had mixed news to bring on the injury front ahead of Leeds United’s trip to Norwich City on Sunday.
The Whites are preparing for the first of a two-legged tie with Farke’s old side at Carrow Road with the return fixture set to take place at Elland Road on Thursday.
The winner will be rewarded with a trip to Wembley to face one of Southampton or West Bromwich Albion for the final remaining place in next season’s Premier League.
Leeds will need to make Championship history if they are to win the play-offs this month as no side has ever done so after losing four of their last six regular season matches.
Supporters aren’t overly confident heading into it but the likes of Sammie Szmodics are among those backing Leeds to get the job done and win promotion.
Farke shares injury update on Patrick Bamford ahead of Leeds vs Norwich
Leeds will have had eight days to prepare following their final day defeat to Southampton and Farke will have used this period to at least attempt to get some bodies back.
It has already been confirmed both Pascal Struijk and Stuart Dallas will not play any part in the play-offs, while Dan James and Patrick Bamford have also missed the last two.
Farke had some positive news to bring on James as he has taken part in some parts of team training this week and therefore could be available from the bench.
However, speaking in his pre-match press conference, it wasn’t such good news on the fitness of Bamford with the £7 million striker set to miss both legs against his former club.
He said: “Patrick will definitely miss both legs. Seen a different knee consultant. New diagnosis: mini trauma in his patellar tendon.”
Who can replace Bamford up front for Leeds?
After a number of meaningful impacts from the bench and his two-goal showing at Chelsea, fans have been crying out for Mateo Joseph to get a chance.
However, Farke has refused to start him in any of Leeds’ league games this season and that is not likely to change at this time of the season.
With that in mind, there is only one man likely to get the nod and that is Joel Piroe.
Piroe restored some of his confidence levels with a goal last time out but has been inconsistent this season and a repeat of his display at QPR would be detrimental for Leeds.