By David Woods

13th Nov, 2020 | 12:47pm

Stuart Dallas delivers injury update after Northern Ireland clash v Slovakia

Leeds United star Stuart Dallas has confirmed he picked up a knock to his elbow and arm in the play-off defeat to Slovakia on Thursday night. 

He sustained what looked like a game-ending injury midway through the first half of the game and he looked to be in trouble.

However, he stayed on the pitch for the full 120 minutes as Northern Ireland lost in extra time.

Talking after the game he said, “We left everything on the pitch and that’s all you can ask for.

“We were all together tonight and we left everything out there. Sometimes that happens in football.

“We’ve got to use this to our advantage and finish the Nations League as strong as we can.”

Asked about the injury he said, “It was a knock to my elbow and arm. You don’t want to leave the pitch when it’s a game of this magnitude.

“You do everything you can to stay out there and I managed to get through it.”

Dallas a hero

This is exactly the sort of attitude that we’d expect from Dallas who is the absolute consummate pro.

However, this is a worry for Leeds and the hope will be that he’s rested for the two upcoming Nations League games.

If he is, there’s a good chance that he’ll be fine for the game against Arsenal a week on Monday and it doesn’t sound like it’s too serious.

We think that making players play up to three games in the international break, on top of a heavy Premier League schedule, is ridiculous.

The Nations League is what’s causing the problems and Northern Ireland are due to play Austria (Sunday) and Romania (Wednesday).

That would see Dallas and other Leeds players coming back and getting just three days of preparation before a really crucial game.

The Arsenal clash comes after two successive 4-1 defeats for Leeds and having a full backline is really critical for Marcelo Bielsa.

 In other Leeds United news, ‘He’s the one making mistakes’ – Nigel Martyn claims Bielsa should axe Leeds big-money signing