Predicted Leeds United XI to face Norwich as £10.5m star and 30-year-old push to start

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Daniel Farke has a couple of selection dilemmas for Leeds United’s clash with Norwich City tonight.

Farke has kept with the same starting XI in each of the last two Championship matches and while that has been successful, today’s game is the second of three home matches in six days.

Leeds’ only real injury doubts ahead of this evening are Pascal Struijk and Willy Gnonto, though the latter could be in contention for a place on the bench after missing Sunday’s win over Preston North End.

The Whites will need to keep their good recent run of form going in order to keep the pressure up on the top three, with no one else in action today.

So, with that in mind, here is our predicted XI for the match.

Goalkeeper

Illan Meslier keeps his place between the sticks.

Defence

Farke has a couple of decisions at the back but none more so than the option of recalling Sam Byram to the starting line-up.

Byram is capable of playing at full-back on either side and for different reasons, the fitness of both Archie Gray and Junior Firpo need protecting. However, it would not be a surprise if Farke kept it the same.

At centre-back, Liam Cooper will also be pushing for a recall but at this stage, it would be harsh to break up the partnership of Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu.

Midfield

The decision to keep Cooper on the bench will come as a boost for Ilia Gruev, whose excellent recent run of form earns him a fourth consecutive start in all competitions.

Despite a sub-par performance from Glen Kamara on Sunday, he also keeps his place in midfield.

Attack

£10.5 million signing Joel Piroe’s stoppage time penalty off the bench earned Leeds all three points on Sunday and Farke must now decide whether to bring him back in for his first league start in almost a month.

However, at the moment, it is hard to look past the developing partnership of Georginio Rutter and Patrick Bamford, with both Dan James and Crysencio Summerville out wide.

Predicted XI: Meslier; Gray, Rodon, Ampadu, Firpo; Gruev, Kamara; James, Rutter, Summerville, Bamford