Daniel Farke plans Leeds United rotation over Christmas but he has no truck with talk of tiredness

Ever-present Ethan Ampadu might be cut some slack, but Farke has time for no complaints from anyone else.

"It's not a secret we will not start all four games with the same line-up, you have to mix it up quite a bit, that's quite normal," said Farke.

"In this moment although it's a family time of year, Christmas, not for the footballers. We have to be focused on the games and this is what we are doing."

Despite saying he will rotate, he is not giving much credence to ideas his players are tired.

"It's important to listen to the science and the date. Every day we analyse data about recovery, how tired players are or if there's an injury risk and we take a lot of care to manage the load in training but I don't like this discussion too much," he said.

"If I'm really honest, Ethan is perhaps the only outfield player who could be a bit tired.

"Most of my players in the spotlight have played 16, 17, 18 games. If you're not capable of doing this from the beginning of August, sorry I'm not made for this world any more, I'd be doing something wrong.

"I should be able to keep my players fit so in four-and-a-half months they can play 18 games. If not, we would have a problem.

"I don't like this discussion because if you always talk about the players being tired or should feel tired or we need to freshen it up, at some time the players believe they're tired.

"They are all professional athletes who live, train, sleep and eat just for this job and they need this competition, they are used to having in once or twice a week."