Daniel Farke explains Leeds United team vs West Ham amid Gabriel Gudmundsson injury — YEP 5/4/26

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By Kyle Newbould

The Leeds United boss went strong for his side's FA Cup quarter-final trip to the London Stadium.

Daniel Farke pointed to the extended gap between Leeds United fixtures either side of West Ham in the FA Cup as one reason to name a strong starting-XI.

The Leeds boss went strong for Sunday’s trip to the London Stadium, handing first FA Cup starts all season to the likes of Joe Rodon, Anton Stach and Jayden Bogle. Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Brenden Aaronson were the only first-team outfielders benched, while Gabriel Gudmundsson was absent through injury.

Gudmundsson reported a minor groin problem ahead of Sunday’s game, having played twice to help Sweden secure a World Cup spot during the international break. The left-back has not been risked, while right-winger Daniel James is set to miss a couple of weeks with a groin strain.

It’s been two weeks since Leeds drew 0-0 at home to Brentford and while a number of first-team regulars were on international duty, few played two sets of 90 minutes. Farke’s squad then have over a week until their Premier League return at Manchester United on Monday, April 13.

"First of all, more than half of the squad were involved in important games during international duty, of course, we're in a position where we have all to play for and for that we didn't allow ourselves too many days off,” Farke told TNT Sports ahead of kick-off. “We had hard work on the training pitch, and for that it prepared us for the game today.

"At this stage of the season, it is never healthy to have three weeks without a competitive game and with that, we get the feeling without doing anything stupid. It makes no sense to rest all the others who played no games in two weeks and the next game is just in eight days.”

The strength of Farke’s starting-XI suggests Sunday’s FA Cup game is more than a simple relegation battle distraction. Not since 2002/03 have Leeds been in an FA Cup quarter-final and it’s been an incredible 39 years since they progressed into the last four.

"For us, we hope we are able to have a good game and for us also a big game,” Farke added. “It's more than two decades ago that Leeds United were in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, so we take this game very seriously and want to be there with the best possible result."

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