Leeds United have a fairly quick turnaround in the Championship promotion race after beating Middlesbrough, taking on QPR on Friday night also away from home.
The finish line is in sight for Leeds, Leicester, Ipswich, and Southampton with only a couple of games left for the Whites.
At this stage, Leeds need to ensure they win their remaining two before hoping for results elsewhere to get into the top two.
Middlesbrough’s intensity was there to see literally from the first exchanges of the game, and that kept up all the way to full-time.
Both sides left everything out in that game, and Leeds had to battle hard to come out on top in front of a raucous Riverside atmosphere, both home and away fans included.
Dan James was seen hobbling in the latter stages of added time as he helped Leeds to hold on, clutching his ribs and going to ground when the ball went dead, before being hauled back to his feet by a ‘Boro player assuming he was wasting time, and not actually stricken.
Joe Rodon was limping in the second half too when Leeds were looking to take the sting out of the game – again hard to tell if he was playing on a minor issue to run down the clock, or physically hurt.
Adam Pope has relayed comments from Daniel Farke on the two Wales internationals, with Leeds having three days’ rest before taking on QPR on Friday.
Rodon appears to be fine after calf issues on Monday, while James is “not looking good”:
The YEP’s Joe Donnohue also revealed comments from double-assist-maker Junior Firpo, that the left-back almost thew up during the game due to recent illness, but stuck out for 90 minutes, while Jaidon Anthony was also under the weather despite coming on late in the game.
We have two games left, eight days between them too as we wait to play Southampton, so it’s a case of sucking it up and getting on with it.
The fact that Firpo put in that mammoth display while ill and on the verge of being sick shows you the commitment.
He’s been immense in 2024, and fair play to Anthony also wanting to come off the bench too when he isn’t 100%.
Rodon will be fine for QPR you’d imagine, but the worry is that we could have seen the end of James this season with that rib issue, if it’s as bad as it looked.
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