Leeds United team news: Daniel James suffers yet another injury blow ahead of Chelsea visit
Leeds United are set to be without “heartbroken” Daniel James for eight weeks after the winger suffered a hamstring tendon injury.
The Wales international came off at half-time of the 3-2 defeat at Manchester City partly because of a tactical change but also because he was feeling a problem in his hamstring.
James has not started more than three consecutive Premier League game since early April.
The news somewhat offsets the return from concussion of Anton Stach, and could potentially push manager Farke in the direction of the 3-5-2 formation which inspired leads to come from 2-2 down at Eastlands. Farke even admitted it could affect his thinking in the January transfer market.
"Good news with Anton since Sunday he's back in team training and definitely also available for this game," said Farke.
"Sadly on the other side, some disappointing news with Daniel James. His hamstring tendon is injured and he will be out. It depends a bit on if he needs surgery or not.
"So as it stands it looks like we could do it in a conservative way. But in a conservative way would mean that he will probably miss the next eight weeks. So as it stands we have to expect that he's out for two months at least, it could be worse with surgery but we hope it's just this eight weeks.
"Everyone knows how much I love Daniel James.
"He has fought so hard to be back in his best shape. And we were extra careful with him to bring him back into the starting line-up and gave him more and more minutes and got the feeling right now that he is physically ready to play longer than just 30 minutes.
"He has worked so much in the last weeks to be back in his best shape. He was so motivated.
"I've never seen him so disciplined in terms of preparation for training, after training, nutrition. He was on a top path to be back to his best.
"He was a bit heartbroken when he got this assessment. But there are worse things in life and you can also have worse injuries.
"I will allow him one or two days to be down and then to work hard in the rehab. We need him back as soon as possible and as quickly as possible."
Asked what impact it could have on Leeds' plans for the January transfer market, Farke replied: "It's still a while to go. I think in four weeks we will also see a bit clearer how long it will last. But of course if key players will be out for such a long time of course influences also a bit your plan for January."
Karl Darlow missed Saturday's game with an adductor injury but is back in training and available to play. Centre-back Sebastiaan Bornauw is also in contention. Both are likely to be on the bench if involved.