
Four Leeds United players ruled out v Blackburn as Ian Poveda jets out – Phil Hay
Phil Hay has revealed that four players will be ruled out for Leeds United ahead of their game against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday (9 December).
Speaking on The Square Ball podcast on Friday (8 December), The Athletic journalist said Junior Firpo and Stuart Dallas remain sidelined, while Luke Ayling has a knee problem that will prevent him from making the trip to Ewood Park.
He added that Ian Poveda has jetted out to South America to play for Colombia in their upcoming international matches, meaning he will also be unavailable to face Rovers.
“Firpo’s still missing, Stuart Dallas missing, Luke Ayling has a knee problem, although we’ve seen over the last few weeks it’s becoming harder for Ayling to make the bench, let alone the team itself,” said Hay. “And Ian Poveda is off to South America for games with Colombia.”
No surprises
There are no real surprises to the team news following Hay’s latest update ahead of the Leeds game against promotion rivals Blackburn.
Firpo and Dallas are still facing some time on the sidelines and they were never really in contention to make the trip to Lancashire.
Daniel Farke was hoping Ayling would be back in training before the weekend after struggling with a knee issue this week, but it appears as though he won’t be fit in time.

The situation regarding Poveda is quite an interesting one after he has been included in the Colombia side for their upcoming games, meaning he won’t be available for the next couple of matches.
The Whites squad is in reasonably good shape on the whole, though, and that will be pleasing for Farke as they approach the busy festive period and some tricky games.
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