{"id":663346,"date":"2026-01-17T02:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=663346"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:54:02","slug":"leeds-united-team-news-and-predicted-lineup-fulham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/01\/17\/leeds-united-team-news-and-predicted-lineup-fulham\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United Team News and Predicted Lineup vs Fulham for January 17"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leeds United return to Premier League action with a winnable home fixture against Fulham, where they have the opportunity to go 11 points clear of the relegation zone with a victory. Daniel Farke\u2019s side recovered from a goal down to win <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/live\/czr4l85p5x6t\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3-1 against Derby County<\/a> in the FA Cup last time out, and their focus now turns to further securing their top flight status. Here is our Leeds United team news and predicted lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Leeds United Team News and Predicted Lineup For Must-Win Home Clash vs Fulham\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>How Leeds Have Lined Up Recently<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Backup goalkeeper Karl Darlow came into the side for Leeds\u2019 FA Cup victory over Derby, but is likely to be replaced by Lucas Perri for the Fulham game, despite the Brazilian\u2019s recent struggles. Darlow conceded from the one shot on target he faced against the Rams, so did not exactly make himself undroppable for the next game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leeds&#8217;s back-three of Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk, and Jaka Bijol have all been outstanding performers this season, and the break from league action allowed both Rodon and Struijk a well-earned rest against Derby. Captain Ethan Ampadu and Sebastiaan Bournauw were selected in their place alongside Bijol.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/01\/15\/afcon-2025-final-prediction-hosts-morocco-take-on-sadio-manes-senegal\/\" target=\"_self\">AFCON 2025 Final Prediction: Hosts Morocco Take on Sadio Mane\u2019s Senegal<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Justin, who came off the bench to score his first goal for the club, and fellow wing-back Gabriel Gudmundsson were also rested against the Rams, with both having played three games in the space of a week. With Jayden Bogle<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/live\/czr4l85p5x6t\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> likely to make a return<\/a> to the squad to take on Marco Silva\u2019s side, Farke faces a slight selection headache at right wing-back, where Justin has been impressive in the 25-year-old\u2019s absence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Operating in a 3-4-1-2 system with no conventional full-backs in the side, Farke opted for Willy Gnonto and Jack Harrison as makeshift wing-backs\/wide midfielders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In midfield, Ilia Greuv started alongside Ao Tanaka, with the Japan international firing in Leeds\u2019 second goal from close range. Sean Longstaff also stepped up his recovery from a considerable injury layoff, coming off the bench in the 73rd minute to get valuable minutes into his legs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Up front, United lined up with Joel Piroe slightly behind a two-man strike force of Noah Okafor and Lukas Nmecha, allowing star man Dominic Calvert-Lewin to rest and recharge. A much-needed rest was also given to Brenden Aaronson, who has arguably been Leeds\u2019 best player over the last few weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Leeds Recent Form and Tactics<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Farke\u2019s tactical switch to a rather unusual 3-4-1-2 shape against Derby seemed largely borne out of the necessity of resting his wing-backs, so it is highly likely that United will line up in their typical 3-5-2 system against Fulham. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A home fixture against a mid-table side, even one in as good form as Fulham, will be the sort of game Leeds need to win to shore up their status as a Premier League outfit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The Whites have won <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.soccerstats.com\/homeaway.asp?league=england#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">73% of their points this season at home<\/a>, meaning that they are the team with the highest proportion of points won in their own backyard in the league. Meanwhile,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Fulham have earned just 35% of their points this season away from Craven Cottage, suggesting that the odds are firmly in favour of Farke\u2019s men.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Leeds United Team News<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One possible addition to Leeds\u2019 squad to take on Fulham <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/cvg1vvd22l2o\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is new signing Facundo Buonanotte<\/a>, with the Argentinian arriving on loan to add additional creativity to their attacking options.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his pre-match press conference, Farke said injury doubts Bogle, Rodon, Gudmundsson, and Sebastiaan Bournauw are all <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/cg4exrl76vxo\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u2018back in contention<\/a>\u2019 for the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This leaves Daniel James as the solitary Leeds player sidelined at the moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Leeds United Predicted Lineup<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GK: Lucas Perri<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CB: Joe Rodon<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CB: Jaka Bijol<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CB: Pascal Struijk<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RWB: James Justin<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LWB: Gabriel Gudmundsson<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CM: Ethan Ampadu<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CM: Anton Stach<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CM: Brenden Aaronson<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ST: Noah Okafor<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Featured Image Credit<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>IMAGO \/ Sportimage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leeds United return to Premier League action with a winnable home fixture against Fulham, where they have the opportunity to go 11 points clear of the relegation zone with a victory. Daniel Farke\u2019s side recovered from a goal down to win 3-1 against Derby County in the FA Cup last time out, and their focus [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5510,"featured_media":635117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,6443,3],"tags":[9646],"class_list":["post-663346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-leeds-united","category-premier-league","tag-leeds-united-predicted-lineup"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663346"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":663371,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663346\/revisions\/663371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}