Leeds United injury news as Whites lose key man and Farke updates on James and Struijk returns

Sam Byram has suffered what Daniel Farke hopes is a minor hamstring issue and will therefore not be risked in midweek, but Daniel James will make his return to the matchday squad against his former club. Jamie Shackleton would have been in contention, having joined James in team training in the last few days, but he will sit out for personal reasons.

"Sadly Sam Byram has reported some minor muscle injuries after the last game and will definitely miss this game," said Farke.

"I hope he's not out too long, we'll wait for the scan. It's not the hamstring he was injured, it's the other leg. We've got a tight schedule, we don't want to risk a bigger injury so won't involve him. We hope he's back at the weekend, perhaps a chance for then but definitely the weekend after. Daniel James is back in team training and also available for the trip. Jamie Shackleton is also back in team training but he will miss the game out of private reasons, so it's more or less the same squad."

The loss of James was mitigated by Willy Gnonto's return to form, the Italian international scoring important goals against Bristol City and Plymouth Argyle. He shone at times against Rotherham United, too. But Farke is still delighted to get 10-goal winger James back among his options.

"It's definitely good news to have Daniel back he was fantastic in terms of end product before his injury," said the manager. "It's good to have a really good option and a key player back."

The bad news is that centre-half Pascal Struijk will continue to sit out with an ongoing groin issue and may not return before the March international break. Farke has seen some progress but is not expecting to have the Dutchman, who was one of the key performers for Leeds in the first half of the season, back in team training for a few weeks yet.

"Difficult to say," said the manager. "Difficult for me as well because I'd like to have a timeframe. We first spoke about one or two weeks and it’s now been more or less two months. There is progress in his rehab, but the doctors haven’t allowed him to extend the load in training until February 20. This week he has done individual work and there will be an assessment next week. Hopefully we get a green light and he can also work with higher intensity. The last scans were quite good but it will be a late call on whether he will return before the next international break due to the length of injury."