Daniel Farke has given a few hints as to his likely selection for our FA Cup visit to Derby County, but they seem to be slightly contradictory. He wants a good run in this competition, but at the same time wants to give a few key players a break, and some first team minutes to one or two others.

He began by bemoaning our recent schedule. “You have to say it is a tough run of fixtures, especially for a side who always has to go over the line and invest everything in each of the games. We had four Premier League fixtures within 10 days”. But he also went on to say “the icing on the cake right now is the FA Cup on Sunday”.

“I am a big believer in cup competition and I always want to win, if somehow possible.” [Some might say] “It is not realistic for us perhaps to win the FA Cup, but why not? I always want to give it a try, and we have also shown during the season that even against the top sides in one game, we always have a chance. We want also then to go into the next round”

And yet..”still having in mind that of course during this season, the big priority is to earn survival and to stay in the Premier League. So, we won’t risk any player in this game. I think it is also important for some players to get some minutes and also to rotate a bit more than we would do perhaps for a league game.”

But…”nevertheless we want to go into the next round, knowing a difficult away game and away at a Championship side is always not an easy task. If it is risky, I wouldn’t do this so I think it will be more or less the same group of players available like for the last game.” Have you got all that? There are certainly a couple of mix messages there.

In terms of actual injury news... “Joe [Rodon] no setback during the game, of course he was a bit tired in the end of the game anyhow but no injuries. The only one who was struggling today a little bit was Sam Byram with some back problems, perhaps a bit more to do with the travelling lots of travelling anyhow”.

Which is a shame, because Byram is one of those you would think would be most likely to be selected for some “minutes”, not least because his back problem might stem from the amount of time he has spent on various benches recently. But one thing Farke has confirmed is that Karl Darlow will be in goal, which some fans won’t regard as a downgrade after the criticism directed at Peri in midweek.

“We will see and make some late decisions, but I expect more or less the same group of players available.” All of which probably means that we’re likely to see all the first team squad members who haven’t had that many starts in the league, such as Piroe, Gnonto and Tanaka. I would thing Gudmunsson is one to be rested, but we might see Ampadu, given that he sat out the Man U game through suspension, but I’m guessing that Rodon won’t be risked after his recent injury.

Some fans on social media have called for Harry Gray to get a game, and a couple of other young players have been mentioned, but that remains to be seen. It’s likely that more than a few of the starting line-up will have been members of the side that was good enough to do the double over Derby in the Championship last season, but the Rams have improved since then under John Eustace.

This time around they are in a comfortable mid-table position and they look likely to avoid last season's relegation battle, while Eustace has had the better of Leeds on the last three times our paths have crossed. They were all 1-0 defeats for us while Eustace was managing Birmingham and Blackburn, with two of these games decided by penalties.

And Eustace sounds well up for it on the official Derby website, saying “The FA Cup is the biggest cup competition in the world. It's what English football is all about and the Third Round is always a special day for all clubs involved. It's a tie that we're all looking forward to. Leeds have a great history, and there’s incredible history between the two teams as well. It should be a really special occasion”.

“We love playing at home and I know our fans will be right behind the boys. We know we're up against a top team but going toe-to-toe with them is a challenge that we're all looking forward to.” And yet, he might also be taking the opportunity to rest a few players, and to give the all-important ‘minutes’ to a few players who are working their way back to fitness.

“It would be great to try and give Oscar [Fraulo] some minutes and see what he's all about. He's come in for the last 10 days and he's trained very well; he's certainly ahead of schedule. It would be great to see him perform at some point. We've also got David Ozoh, Lewis Travis and people like that coming back from injury. So, it certainly gives us a chance to give vital minutes to some players”.

And like all Championship clubs against Premier League opponents this weekend, they will have the advantage of having a blank midweek, while the top division had a full programme of fixtures. I just thought I’d point that out to get my excuse in early.

Six weeks ago I would have accepted that the FA Cup was an unwelcome distraction while we were in the depths of a relegation battle, but now that we’re eight points clear of the bottom three, I think we’ve almost got the luxury of having a decent shot at the FA Cup. Not least because after this round we would have a free week before each game, so it shouldn’t wear us out too much.

I understand that several of the fringe members of the squad need to start, but I’d also like to see some of the fully fit first choice players on the bench, just in case things aren’t going well and we need to get them on at the end of the game. It’s unlikely that we’ll go all the way through and win the thing, but I’d like to see us get through a few rounds at least.

Reuters