Predicted Leeds United XI to face Norwich City… Two changes to £10.5m man return, defensive switch made

Daniel Farke sprung a tactical surprise in his starting line-up at the weekend as Georginio Rutter featured – rather ineffectively – for the first time since December, with Archie Gray in 10th place.

Defensively, it was a change that paid off as Norwich struggled to create anything in the way of clear-cut chances. The problem was, neither did Leeds.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Farke returns to a more attacking side tonight, so here’s our predicted XI for the game.

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Illan Meslier had little to do on Sunday, but still managed to look edgy through a series of poor bits of casting. He won’t be taken down, though.

Defense

Junior Firpo was impressive in keeping Jonathan Rowe quiet and would have been on the scoresheet had an extremely narrow offside call gone Leeds’ way. He starts at left back.

Ethan Ampadu and Joe Rodon will continue in central defense with Sunday’s clean sheet stopping the rot of nine goals conceded in three games.

If Farke wants to go with a more attacking set-up, Connor Roberts should replace Sam Byram at right-back with a few more days of full-squad training under his belt.

Middle

Ilia Gruev and Glen Kamara have seemingly found themselves as Farke’s first-choice midfielders once again after a short spell on the sidelines for the latter.

With 60 per cent possession, Leeds had much more control in midfield at Carrow Road than in previous weeks and hopefully that will be the case again tonight.

Attack

With Roberts at right-back and Kamara and Gruev in midfield, that unfortunately leaves no place for Gray in the starting line-up.

Patrick Bamford is still out, so Mateo Joseph should be the man to come in, but the likelihood is £10.5m for summer arrival Joel Piroe. This is a massive game for him and he starts from the front.

Rutter really struggled on Sunday but is unlikely to be dropped by Farke as he starts in the number 10 position with Willy Gnonto and Crysencio Summerville either side of him.

Dan James should be fit enough to get more than the three minutes he managed off the bench in the first leg.

XI predicted: Tradesman; Roberts, Rodon, Ampadu, Firpo; Gruev, Kamara; Gnonto, Rutter, Summerville; Pyro

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