Big Fulham blow as triple absence confirmed for Leeds United trip
Leeds United welcome Fulham to Elland Road this weekend as the Premier League returns.
Leeds United’s upcoming opponents will be without three key players for their trip to Elland Road thanks to the weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations results.
Leeds had FA Cup commitments over the weekend and beat Derby County 3-1 to book their place in this evening’s fourth round draw. Goals from Willy Gnonto, Ao Tanaka and James Justin capped off a professional second-half performance in which the Whites came from 1-0 down to progress comfortably.
Focus now turns back onto the Premier League and survival, with Daniel Farke’s side welcoming Fulham to West Yorkshire on Saturday afternoon. Leeds will hope to build on their impressive recent form, which dipped slightly during a dramatic 4-3 defeat at Newcastle United last time out.
Visitors Fulham also progressed to the FA Cup fourth round with a 3-1 win over Middlesbrough on Saturday but another victory almost 1,500 miles away affected their Elland Road plans. Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to book their place in the AFCON semi-finals and their players will now miss another weekend of domestic football.
Fulham currently have three players away for AFCON, all of which are representing Nigeria. Centre-back Calvin Bassey, plus forwards Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze, are all in the Super Eagles squad with the former pair featuring in a 2-0 win against Algeria on Saturday.
Goals either side of half-time from Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams secured Nigeria’s place in the semi-finals where they are due to face hosts Morocco on Wednesday evening. Regardless of the result in that final-four clash, Fulham’s three stars will feature in either the AFCON final or third-place play-off, both of which take place this weekend.
Triple Fulham absence a big blow ahead of Leeds United trip
The absences are a blow for Fulham, with the Nigerian trio registering 34 Premier League starts between them this season. Combined, the three absentees have also directly contributed to 11 goals with five efforts and six assists.
Fulham are also expected to be without Leeds summer target Rodrigo Muniz, who has endured a torrid time with injury all season. The Brazilian hasn’t started a game since mid-September and been out since November 8, having undergone surgery on a hamstring issue.
Leeds will hope those absences and home advantage hand them an edge over Fulham, who needed an added-time Gabriel Gudmundsson own-goal to take all three points in the reverse fixture. The Whites left-back was incredibly unfortunate to head a corner into his own net after a strong away performance should have earned a point.
Farke’s side have improved massively since that defeat, owing to a change of formation and more direct style of play. Prior to the game at Newcastle, they’d gone seven unbeaten while playing the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Sunderland.
Leeds haven’t missed anyone due to AFCON but could be without Sebastiaan Bornauw on Saturday, with the Belgian forced off due to an adductor issue at Derby. Winger Daniel James (hamstring tendon) also remained sidelined for the foreseeable future while Jayden Bogle (calf) was not involved at Pride Park either.