Yesterday we had the bad news that Joe Rodon’s hamstring injury will keep him out for up to 10 weeks, but for tomorrow’s trip to face Brighton and Hove Albion we will be facing a side with far more injury problems than we have.

Daniel Farke confirmed the disappointing news about Rodon at yesterday's press conference. “Joe will be out for, at the moment, an assessment of eight to 10 weeks, so he will definitely not play before the next international break. Also, probably not the first games after the international break. Of course, a big blow for us because he is a key player for us”.

So we do at last have cause to give thanks for the extended international break, unpopular though it is with those fans who are easily bored by international football. Farke’s immediate problem will now be how his defence will line up in Rodon’s absence. If he doesn’t opt to start all three of his remaining experienced central defenders, then Bijol will be the most likely to warm the bench, having been ‘hooked’ after a shaky first half against Brentford.

I would think that our most recent signings Bard and Bahoya will begin life at Leeds on the bench, given their need to take time to integrate with the rest of the squad, but both could be handy substitutes when they can operate in a number of different positions. Dan James has had an impressive start, but my guess is that Farke will once again prefer Aaronson on the right.

But if we thought Rodon’s absence would give us a headache, our hosts have completely outdone us in the injury stakes. The latest was a bizarre knee injury sustained by Mats Wieffer at Chelsea, when he fell awkwardly after being hit in the face by the ball! They already had Minteh,Mitoma, Tzimas and Evan Ferguson out with various problems, some going back to last season.

Austrian central defender Michael Svoboda is back in training after a knee problem but is unlikely to be fit for this game, and this week they even signed a player who was injured already, with Femi Azeez arriving from Millwall with a slight issue. But Yasin Ayari and our old boy Georginio Rutter could be back after missing the last game with minor injuries.

Brighton must be concerned that they’ve got so many injuries so early in the season, but Daniel Farke knows that we will still be in for a difficult game tomorrow. "I think they've played a really good second half of last season, qualified for Europe, impressive start to the season, so the whole pre-season was impressive”.

“Overall they are in really good shape. Fabian [Hürzeler] has done a fantastic job there and we travel also very respectful. We have to be at our best in order to be competitive." Brighton beat Aston Villa 4-0 in their opening game and gave a good account of themselves in a 4-3 defeat to Chelsea last weekend. And in between the two league games they beat Tromsø 4-0 in the Conference League.

Leeds will need to improve on a dreadful record at Brighton’s new home, having failed to win any of the 10 games we’ve played at the Amex, losing seven of them and failing to score in any of the last eight! Last November’s abysmal 3-0 defeat was a particular lowlight, during the spell when Daniel Farke seemed to be heading for the exit before he began to turn our season around at the end of that month.

We will go into tomorrow’s game in much better shape, but I think that coming away with a point would still have to be regarded as a good result.

Reuters