Leeds United's Stuart Dallas has third operation on leg as Whites weigh up minor injuries ahead of FA Cup clash at Cardiff City

The versatile Northern Ireland international has been a big miss, and his rehabilitation has been set back by an infection picked up in the course of the second surgery.

"Stuart had a follow-up operation because they thought they had a little bit of an infection so they just cleaned that out but he's back and feeling good so that's that," explained coach Jesse Marsch.

"He had his first operation, then he had the second one because they felt like there were some things limiting the sensation in his knee so they went in and they took out a couple of screws and cleaned a little bit of the knee area up.

"From that he picked up an infection. So then he went back and got another surgery but he is feeling good and back home."

Dallas' fitness is more of a long-term issue but in the meantime the Whites are waiting on a number of minor fitness issues before they name what Marsch hopes will be a strong team to face Cardiff City in the FA Cup on Sunday.

The game comes too soon for Patrick Bamford, Adam Forshaw and Luis Sinisterra but the American was being coy about who the question marks were over.

He did reveal Max Wober is in line to make his debut having received international clearance, and Marsch stressed he is taking the game seriously to address Leeds' terrible recent histories in the competition and against the Bluebirds.

"We have a lot of guys that we're hopeful they can turn around but a lot of little issues so I'm not going to give you full updates," said Marsch. "We are hopeful some of the questionable guys can turn around and be ready to go.

"We want to put a strong team on the pitch. We know 6,000 fans are going down, I know the history of us losing 21 years ago at Cardiff and we expect that they'll be very spirited for this match so we want to put the best team we can on the pitch."

On winger Sinisterra, Marsch said: "He was on the pitch individually today (Friday) looking really strong, sprinting and running and looking close.

"I don't want to talk too early but we're hopeful that at some point next week he is back in training so that's really positive. He won't be ready this weekend."

The same is true of Bamford and Forshaw.

"Patrick was in training today so that was a big step in the right direction, I'm not predicting him to be ready for the (Cup) match but he's at least in training," he added. "Adam will probably not be available for this match but should be training next week."

Leeds have not won an FA Cup match since 2017. That season also marked the last time they beat Cardiff, losing four out of five matches since.