Leeds United's initial injury assessment on key duo after hard-fought win over Norwich City

The Whites were faced with yet another different kind of test in the form of a Canaries side who dominated possession for a long spell in the second half, forcing Farke’s men to cover big distances to stay in their defensive shape. Prior to that though Leeds had taken a 1-0 lead thanks to Patrick Bamford’s header from a Daniel James cross and they worked hard to protect their lead. Norwich could have equalised on the stroke of half-time but Gabriel Sara fluffed his lines.

There were opportunities for Leeds to double their advantage once they broke out of the visitors’ spell of dominance, a spell that brought nothing in the way of real danger, yet a combination of wasteful finishing and Angus Gunn in the Norwich net kept the scoreline 1-0. Norwich threw their keeper forward for stoppage time set-pieces, all of which Leeds rebuffed to secure a fifth consecutive win in all competitions.

Farke was impressed with his former club. “Obviously credit goes first of all to Norwich, they were definitely one of the best sides that have played here at Elland Road this season,” he said. “I expected a complicated game anyway, they're a really good side, coming on the back of back-to-back-to-back wins, five games unbeaten and had nothing to lose. No one really expected they would win points here at Elland Road. They played brave. Even if they went a goal down they kept going.”

But the German felt that what his side did warranted the three points, particularly in the face of adversity. “I played the quick turnaround down before but I had it in my head that they had one more day to recover and we had to play without Pascal Struijk, Willy Gnonto, then Daniel James and Archie came off with some injuries. I'm more than happy we won this game, another three points, another clean sheet.

"It was a game of different spells. We had a few problems to handle their possession when they were pushing us back. The same for them. We created the better chances, I think in the end it was deserved. In these moments it was important not to allow them chances. They had one big chance close to the half-time whistle. But if you don't score the second you have to keep going and fight to the end and defend without any mistakes. It's one of the best set-piece sides, it's so difficult to defend their wide area free-kicks and corners, we didn't let them create chances from these situations. A hard-fought win.”

Leeds’ victory narrowed the gap to second-placed Ipswich Town to just two points, albeit without the newly-promoted side yet playing their 29th game. Saturday’s FA Cup game against Plymouth will give Leeds a short break from the intensity of the promotion battle but Farke now goes into that game with fresh injury concerns over both James and Gray. The winger came off at the interval and Gray limped off in stoppage time.

“Daniel James sadly, had to substitute him because close to the halftime whistle, he slipped a bit away and overstretched his hip flexor, adductor,” said Farke. “I think it's a little strain. I hope it's not too bad. So I think he will definitely be out for the FA Cup game for the weekend. But I hope then he can return pretty soon back to training because we need him, he's in brilliant shape and doesn't look too bad.

"With Archie Gray in the beginning if I'm honest, I was concerned because he got a hit against his knee and he overstretched it and he was panicking a little bit and was fearing something with the ligament and had to limp off after the first assessment and carefully optimistic so it seems like ACL ligaments everything's okay, it was more or less just a hit and he overstretched it so at the moment it looks good. So yes, we have to wait right now for further assessment. But I'm carefully optimistic that it's not a long term injury. And yes, would be crucial and also important if there is no long term injury with him because we definitely need him.”