Daniel Farke swings axe with Karl Darlow out and five changes made – Confirmed Leeds United XI v Birmingham
Leeds United have confirmed their starting XI for the Championship clash with Birmingham at Elland Road on 1 January as Daniel Farke looks to turn their form around, while Karl Darlow is missing from the squad.
Kristoffer Klaesson makes his first start of the season alongside Archie Gray, Glen Kamara, Daniel James and Patrick Bamford who come in for the absent Darlow, Ilia Gruev, Wilfried Gnotno and Joel Piroe.
Pascal Struijk continues to miss out through injury, while Junior Firpo, Luke Ayling and Jamie Shackleton also remain on the treatment table, with Illan Meslier still suspended. Charlie Cresswell misses out amid speculation over his future.
A big result is needed
Leeds have won just one of their last five Championship games, slipping to fourth place and allowing Ipswich to put nine points between Farke’s team and the automatic promotion places, despite the 4-0 win against their rivals at Elland Road just over a week ago.
Southampton, meanwhile, have leapfrogged the Whites in third place and extended the gap between the teams to six points, putting another dent in Leeds’ promotion plans, and Farke needs to see his team bounce back against Birmingham.
A home game against a Birmingham side who have dropped as low as 20th in the league, having been sixth when Wayne Rooney took over from John Eustace in October should provide Leeds with the ideal opportunity to get back to winning ways.
If they cannot take advantage of their opponent’s poor form despite their own dip in form, questions will start to be asked of Leeds and their promotion push with the second half of the season set to provide a tough challenge.
In other Leeds United news, the club have been in contact to sign a £5.2million left-back.