Daniel Farke has shared an injury update ahead of Leeds United’s Championship play-off final with Southampton.
Having missed out on the top two in the final weeks of the season, Sunday represents Leeds‘ last chance of sealing an immediate return to the Premier League.
Both Leeds and Southampton were relegated together 12 months ago and having finished third and fourth in the table respectively, it is hard to disagree with this not being the right final.
Many pundits are finding it difficult to separate the two sides heading into the game, with Ally McCoist and David Prutton among those backing Leeds to win on penalties.
However, plenty are also tipping Southampton to get the job done including former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan, who says he has predicted the Saints from the very beginning.
Farke shares injury update on Patrick Bamford ahead of play-off final
Leeds defeated Norwich City 4-0 on aggregate to get to this stage but were without Stuart Dallas, Pascal Struijk, Sam Byram and Patrick Bamford for both legs.
While Dallas and Struijk were ruled out for the season a long time ago, Bamford’s injury has been a little harder to diagnose. Having missed the last four, the £7m man has spent longer on the sidelines than expected.
Bamford claimed after Leeds’ win over Norwich that he would be ‘touch and go’ for Sunday’s clash at Wembley, and it would depend on whether he could return to training.
And now speaking in his pre-match press conference, Farke has shared a new injury update on Bamford and whether he will be fit to be at least in the squad.
He said: “Not available and won’t be there. Definitely misses out. Minor issues this week, but it seems every player will be available, including Byram, who returned to team training yesterday. If he does not show any reaction he will be in the squad.”
Joel Piroe likely to get the nod for Leeds
Even if Bamford had have been fit, it is highly unlikely that Farke would’ve brought him straight back into the starting XI again.
Having had a tough end to the season, Joel Piroe has seemingly found his form again with arguably his best performance in a Leeds shirt in the semi-final second leg.
The 24-year-old has actually scored twice in his last two starts, one of which came against Southampton on the final day.
He has made himself undroppable going into the final and hopefully he can produce a repeat of his display last time out.