Fresh injury concern for Leeds United attacking option against Preston as key man's absence continues

The Whites have been without centre-back Pascal Struijk for their last three three outings and his absence will continue for at least another week according to the manager. But Sam Byram, who returned to action as a late substitute at Cardiff City after his latest spell on the sidelines, has come through a full week of team training without issue.

"Sam Byram has had a full training week and is fully available," said Farke. "It's good for him to have a full training week to build the resilience of his body, to hopefully go back to the behaviour he has shown in the first month of the season when he could play even two or three games in a week and handle the load. I think we have to be a bit more careful with him."

Club captain Liam Cooper is in contention for minutes on Sunday, although Farke is not yet certain of the centre-back's ability to play 90 minutes after a groin problem kept him out of the FA Cup tie at Peterborough and kept him on the bench at Cardiff. With Struijk still out, it means Ethan Ampadu will almost certainly reprise the central defensive role he has taken up in the last two outings.

"Liam Cooper is back in team training for two sessions and is a topic for the game on Sunday, we'll have to see if it's enough for 90 minutes but it's good he's back in training," said Farke. "A bit of progress with Pascal but he's not in team training yet. He's definitely out for Sunday and I don't expect him to return for Wednesday or [next] Saturday, he'll be out for a bit longer."

Leeds have suffered a fresh blow at the other end of the pitch, too. Italian international Willy Gnonto, who is playing second fiddle to Daniel James when it comes to the right wing berth but has still had major involvement as a substitute, is struggling with a new injury.

"Willy Gnonto is a major doubt, he has some problems with his hip flexor," said Farke. "He was not able to take full part in team training so I would say it's a major doubt for this game."

Junior Firpo, meanwhile, is available despite withdrawing from the Whites' 3-0 win over Cardiff City with a dead leg last weekend.