Gary McAllister is likely to name an unchanged squad to face fellow play-off challengers Brighton and Hove Albion.
Macca decided his squad was strong enough not to have to take any more players on loan on deadline day, telling the official site "We have an 18/19 man squad that has been tight and I feel we have enough there. I don't see there being any changes with the loans." And I think this was the right decision, as the group of players we now have is very good by League one standards, so Macca should now work on getting them to realise their potential.
Leeds have no new injury or suspension worries for this game, but Andrew Hughes will have to serve the second game of his two-match ban, and Alan Thompson has yet to recover from his latest setback. Macca told the official site that we could still see Thompson in action by the end of the season. "The injury has moved into his calf now. It's frustrating for him. He played nearly every minute of every match during his loan spell at Hartlepool, but since he came back it’s been one niggle after another for him. We've had a chat and as we get to this final push I feel and he feels he still has a part to play."
Last weeks win over Walsall was arguably Leeds best performance under Mc.Allister, and the boss told the official site that we need to maintain this improvement until the end of the season. "Last weekend against Walsall we defended well and passed the ball well, but we can build on it and be better. The players set standards and they should have a good feeling about themselves - but it's about repeating that and getting a run going. I fancy them to give it a big push now."
Jonathan Douglas completed an hour for the reserves against Lincoln City on Wednesday night, and is likely to be named on the bench again tomorrow. Leeds should be the fresher of the two sides, as our midweek game at Huddersfield was postponed due to international commitments. In the event Michalik and Sorsa weren’t selected by their respective countries, so Tresor Kandol was our only man on international duty, as he played in Congo's friendly with Algeria.
Macca went to Nottingham on Easter Monday to see Brighton pick up a point at Forest, and said “they competed very well and they are on a decent run. They're pretty confident and they frustrated Forest. They'll come to frustrate us. They are organised, they work extremely hard and it'll be a tough game. We've got to match those things and hope our quality can come through. We'll go on the front foot and play with a tempo.”
Brighton have climbed into the top six in the last month, by winning two of the games they had in hand on their play-off rivals, yet their away form this season has been far from impressive. Andrew Whing returns at right-back after serving a two-match ban and midfield player Tommy Fraser is fit after sustaining a knock and should be on the bench.
But on-loan Ian Westlake is ineligible to face his parent club, and by all accounts Westy has been in good form on the south coast and has played his part in Brighton’s recent surge up the table, so he could be badly missed by the seagulls.
As ever the opposition are up for their cup final, and Brighton striker Glenn Murray told BBC Southern Counties Radio: "We've got to go there and do a job like we did at Forest. You can't not be up for playing in front of 20 thousand. You are always very motivated for games against big teams like this."
But despite those brave words, I think this Leeds side have finally ‘gelled’, and I’ll tip them to get another home win. And we’re certainly going to need it, as following this game we’ll have to play five of the last seven matches away from home.