Leeds will again face Kettering Town without three loan players, but several of our injured defenders are close to a return.

Simon Grayson could give Patrick Kisnorbo a late fitness test, and not before time as we’ve had one or two dodgy moments in defence in the last couple of games. Kisnorbo has missed the last three matches with a knee injury and Grayson has given nothing away as to how the Australian international is progressing with his recovery. Richard Naylor and Andrew Hughes are also believed to be close to a return to action.

Max Gradel, Vokes and Ephraim are ineligible once again, as their parent clubs do not want them to be cup-tied, and so have refused them permission to play. Luciano Becchio is likely to start up front in the absence of Vokes, and Howson will presumably be asked to operate on the right once again, in the absence of any other options on the wing.

Simon Grayson feels that he has sufficient strength in depth to cope with this situation. He told the official site "We've got people who can come into the squad. The majority of the loan players can't play, but the players are ready and hungry to come into the team. We do have a few tired bodies from the weekend, but we'll see where we are going to be on Tuesday."

Kettering seem certain to line up the same as they did for the first game, having rested several players on Saturday against Salisbury, including goalkeeper and player/manager Lee Harper. It didn’t work out for them, as the Poppies suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat, meaning they have now lost all three of Harpers home games in charge of the club.

That said, their current away form is an incredible nine successive wins in all competitions, so we have been warned! One player Kettering are like to be without is popular super-sub Jean-Paul Marna, as the Frenchman limped off on Saturday with a suspected hamstring problem.

We can expect Kettering to raise their game against once again, and on their main forum the Poppies fans are describing this as their biggest game of all time, with the prospect of a trip to Old Trafford. But I expect that Leeds will have just to much for them, and I’ll predict a Leeds victory by a margin of two goals.

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