Fulham v Leeds United: Cooper and Forshaw add to United's injury problems

Captain Liam Cooper and midfielder Adam Forshaw are the latest additions to United’s roll of absentees, leaving Heckingbottom with limited options for tomorrow evening’s game at Fulham.

Cooper and Forshaw could both miss the rest of the Championship season having succumbed to thigh and calf problems respectively. Cooper suffered a torn muscle last week, shortly after returning from a previous calf strain, and Forshaw is struggling with an injury he was carrying when Leeds signed him from Middlesbrough in the January transfer window.

Left-back Laurens De Bock was already missing with a pulled hamstring and Heckingbottom has not had use of Tyler Roberts, Luke Ayling or Conor Shaughnessy since taking over as head coach at the start of February.

Kemar Roofe, meanwhile, has missed six matches with what Leeds initially believed was a minor calf strain, suffered in a 2-2 draw at Derby County last month.

Heckingbottom said the forward – Leeds’ top scorer across all competitions this season – was close to a return to training but would not be in contention for the clash with Fulham.

“I’m hoping there’s nothing new so we’ll be selecting from the same group of players,” Heckingbottom said. “I can’t imagine any others will be back.

“Roofey’s in the final stages of recovery but we’ll need to get him training again and see how he is. An injury we were hoping would be a couple of weeks has turned into several so we need to be careful and make sure he doesn’t break down.”

Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic is likely to recall teenage winner Ryan Sessegnon after naming the England Under-21 international on the bench during a 2-0 win at Norwich City on Friday.

Sessegnon, who made his debut as a 16-year-old against Leeds last season, has shone this term with 14 goals and five assists.