Leeds United have made wholesale changes to the team that were defeated in midweek for Sunday’s Championship clash against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.
Manager Thomas Christiansen has made four alterations to the side that slipped to a 3-1 loss at Cardiff City.
Recalled quartet Samuel Saiz, Pierre-Michel Lasogga, Eunan O’Kane and Matthew Pennington replace Stuart Dallas, Mateusz Klich, Pablo Hernandez and the suspended skipper Liam Cooper.
???? Starting XI presented by @Ladbrokes:-
Wiedwald, Ayling, Pennington, Jansson, Berardi, Phillips, O’Kane, Roofe, Saiz, Alioski, Lasogga pic.twitter.com/sjxGFenWvO
— Leeds United (@LUFC) October 1, 2017
The headline change is the omission of attacking midfielder Hernandez, who is left out for the first time in the league this season.
Kemar Roofe keeps his place, although he will drop out wide after starting up front in Cardiff, to allow room for the return of first-choice spearhead Lasogga.
OPINION
The big call from Christiansen is the omission of Hernandez, who was outstanding at Hillsborough last season but has a reputation of blowing hot and cold in frenzied away fixtures. The Spaniard lasted just 45 minutes in midweek before he was sacrificed following Cooper’s sending-off, but he had been anonymous up until that point. Nevertheless, the 32-year-old’s capacity for the spectacular and his dead-ball expertise will be missed if Leeds struggle to gain a foothold in the Yorkshire derby.