Wolves v Leeds United team news: Integral duo back involved but Raphinha out

Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper return to the Leeds United bench for Friday night's Premier League clash at Wolves but Brazilian star winger Raphinha is out due to Covid-19.
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Phillips and Bamford have not featured since the 2-2 draw at home to Brentford at the beginning of December in which both picked up hamstring injuries.

But Whites head coach Jesse Marsch revealed that both players were back in full training at Thursday's pre-match press conference and the duo are among the substitutes for Friday night's clash at Molineux.

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Raphinha, though, is missing after testing positive for Covid-19 and the Brazilian international is replaced by Jack Harrison as the only change to the side.

Rodrigo starts despite having been taken off after an hour of last weekend's victory at home to Norwich with a slight quad issue.

Marsch said on Thursday that the Spaniard had a little bit of an old injury and that the symptoms needed to be managed.

The Whites boss reported that the record signing would train on Friday and Rodrigo takes his place in the XI whilst Joe Gelhardt also makes the bench having had a back issue.

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Junior Firpo is out with an MCL injury whilst Jamie Shackleton and Lewis Bate picked up knocks playing for the under-23s against Manchester United on Tuesday night.

Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.
Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips. Picture by Bruce Rollinson.

Tyler Roberts is out after tearing his hamstring and Leo Hjelde is on the comeback trail after knee surgery.

In addition to Cooper and Phillips, Nohan Kenneh also moves on to the Whites bench.

Wolves boss Bruno Lage has made three changes to his side as Willy Boly, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Daniel Podence all start at the expense of Max Kilman, Marcal and Hwang Hee-chan who all drop to the bench.

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Ki-Jana Hoever, Pedro Neto and Nelson Semedo were all already confirmed as being out.

Leeds United: Meslier; Ayling, Llorente, Struijk, Dallas; Forshaw, Klich; James, Harrison; Rodrigo, Bamford. Subs: Klaesson, Koch, Cooper, Cresswell, Kenneh, Phillips, Summerville, Gelhardt, Greenwood.

Wolves: Sa, Jonny, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Ait-Nouri, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Podence, Jimenez. Subs: Ruddy, Kilman, Toti, Marcal, Cundle, Chiquinho, Hwang, Trincao, Silva.

Referee: Kevin Friend.

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