Daniel Farke makes big Leeds United changes at Derby County with attacker recalls and Whites doubt missing
Big changes have been made to the Leeds United team at Derby County.
Whites boss Daniel Farke has made four changes to his Leeds United team for Sunday evening’s final Championship game of the year at Derby County where an attacking trio are recalled.
Front men Mateo Joseph, Largie Ramazani and Willy Gnonto all come into the side as attackers Joel Piroe, Manor Solomon and Dan James are benched whilst Ao Tanaka comes back into midfield at the expense of Joe Rothwell who also sits amongst the substitutes.
Captain Ethan Ampadu and Sam Byram both start following assessments but injury doubt Max Wober is again missing.
Farke declared after Boxing Day’s 2-0 win at Stoke City that captain Ampadu and Byram would both need to be assessed ahead of the quick turnaround for the clash at Pride Park.
Ampadu has returned sooner than expected from knee ligament damage and Farke said a check would be needed after the skipper played the full duration of both last weekend’s win against Oxford United and the victory at Stoke.
Byram also played the vast majority of both contests and Farke admitted the full-back’s injury past would always be a little topic as he declared that he too would need to be assessed.
Farke made one change to his side for Boxing Day’s clash at Derby for which midfield star Tanaka was rested as Pascal Struijk came back into the team following a hamstring issue, paving the way for Ampadu to move from centre-back to his natural centre midfield position.
That meant Ampadu partnering Rothwell in centre midfield as Tanaka dropped to the bench.
But Tanaka now comes back into the XI to partner Ampadu in the middle of the park as part of a team in which three of the front four that started at Stoke have been changed. Brenden Aaronson is only player in the front line to not be rested for the final game of 2024 for which Wober is again missing.
The Austrian defender has missed United’s last two games with a fresh knee issue which made him doubtful for this evening’s contest at Derby in which Byram and keeper Illan Meslier are both making their 200th appearances for the club.
Ilia Gruev (knee surgery) and Junior Firpo (hamstring) remain out injured and youngster James Debayo again makes the bench.
Rams boss Paul Warne has selected the same Derby XI that lined up for Boxing Day's victory against West Brom. Midfielders Ben Osborn and Liam Thompson are still missing.
Derby County: Zetterström, Wilson, Nelson, Phillips, Elder, Goudmijn, Adams, Mendez-Laing, Harness, Jackson, Yates. Subs: Vickers, Ward, Forsyth, Bradley, Barkhuizen, Collins, Blackett-Taylor, Chirewa, Brown.
Leeds United: Meslier; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Byram; Ampadu, Tanaka; Gnonto, Ramazani, Aaronson, Joseph. Subs: Darlow, James, Rothwell, Bamford, Piroe, Solomon, Guilavogui, Schmidt, Debayo.