Six changes were made by Jesse Marsch to the Leeds United team which was narrowly beaten by Tottenham Hotspur in their last public match. Illan Meslier, Rasmus Kristensen, Robin Koch, Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson and Wilfried Gnonto were the men to drop out of that line-up in the capital.
Koch and Gnonto are the only members of that sextet to be here in Elche tonight, while Meslier is suffering from a viral illness and the other three continue to recuperate from their World Cup exertions. With no limit on the substitutions available to Marsch, all eight replacements should realistically expect to play after five days of training up the coast at the Oliva Nova resort.
Joel Robles starts between the sticks in the absence of Meslier and Kristoffer Klaesson, while Luke Ayling gets a rare chance from the start at right-back. Adam Forshaw is among the favourites to replace a suspended Adams for Manchester City’s visit, so time for him in the centre with Marc Roca will be critical tonight.
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Joe Gelhardt gets the nod over Mateusz Klich in the slot behind Rodrigo, while Harrison, who missed out at Spurs through injury, squeezes out Gnonto on this occasion. Leo Hjelde comes into the defence for Koch, who played a limited part in training across the last two days.
Klich brings the experience to a young bench, which includes Dani van den Heuvel, Sonny Perkins, Darko Gyabi, Leo Hjelde, Cody Drameh, Mateo Joseph and Sam Greenwood. Junior Firpo, Diego Llorente, Stuart Dallas and Luis Sinisterra are with the travelling party, but not included in the matchday squad.
Leeds: Robles; Ayling, Cooper, Struijk, Hjelde; Forshaw, Roca; Summerville, Gelhardt, Harrison; Rodrigo.
Subs: Van den Heuvel, Perkins, Gyabi, Gnonto, Drameh, Greenwood, Klich, Joseph.
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