Boss Daniel Farke made five changes to his side for Saturday’s return to Championship action at Cardiff City from the team that lined up in the previous weekend’s win at Peterborough United in the FA Cup third round. One of those changes was enforced as club captain Liam Cooper missed out due to groin issues but Farke received a quadruple boost for the Cardiff game as Sam Byram, Joe Gelhardt, Ian Poveda and Illan Meslier all returned.
Byram made his comeback from a recent hamstring injury when brought on as a second-half substitute whilst Gelhardt and Poveda both returned to the bench after recovering from a glute injury and illness respectively. Meslier, meanwhile, resumed his place between the sticks after serving a three-match ban. But Cooper’s injury left Farke with four men out and another player was then forced off in the 3-0 win at the Bluebirds.
Here, we run through the Whites men that are currently sidelined and when they are expected back ahead of Sunday’s return to action against Championship visitors Preston North End in a 12 noon kick-off at Elland Road.
1. Liam Cooper (groin)
Expected return date: Unknown/possibly Preston home. Summary: Farke revealed at his pre-Cardiff City press conference that Cooper was a major doubt for the game due to groin issues and the skipper failed to make the matchday squad. Farke said: "Liam Cooper is a major doubt, he was not able to train, he still reports some groin issues." Photo: George Wood
2. Pascal Struijk (groin/adductor)
Expected return date: Unknown/possibly Preston at home. Summary: Struijk has recently been sidelined with a groin/adductor injury and Farke revealed last week that the defender had no chance of being available for the trip to Cardiff. Farke said: "Pascal Struijk will still be out for this game, no chance to travel with us." Photo: Tim Markland
3. Karl Darlow (dislocated thumb)
Expected return date: Late February/early March. Summary: Darlow dislocated his thumb in the warm up at West Brom. The keeper took painkillers to get through the game but Farke revealed afterwards that he was facing around seven weeks out. Farke said: "We hope obviously and he's also like a fighter that he comes back perhaps even a bit earlier but at the moment we expect him to be out of team training for the next seven weeks." Photo: George Wood
4. Stuart Dallas (femoral fracture)
Expected return date: Unknown. Summary: Dallas remains on the long comeback trail from the femoral fracture suffered in the Premier League defeat at home to Manchester City of April 2022. Farke confirmed post-match after West Brom that the Northern Ireland international is still training individually. The return to team training is the next step. Photo: Naomi Baker
5. Junior Firpo (dead leg)
Expected return date: Preston at home. Summary: Firpo was eventually forced off injured in the 84th minute of Saturday's win at Cardiff City but Farke revealed afterwards that the left back had just suffered a dead leg which appeared no major concern. Farke said: “It was a dead leg, he got hit in the first half and the longer it went on the more problems he had, but not a big problem." Photo: George Wood