{"id":665234,"date":"2026-02-14T13:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=665234"},"modified":"2026-02-14T13:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:26:12","slug":"leeds-united-team-news-and-predicted-lineup-birmingham-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/02\/14\/leeds-united-team-news-and-predicted-lineup-birmingham-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United Team News and Predicted Lineup vs Birmingham City for February 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

After securing a shock 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Leeds United\u2019s attention now turns to the FA Cup fourth round, where they take on Championship Birmingham City at St Andrew\u2019s. With a point against Chelsea catapulting the Whites above Tottenham Hotspur to 15th in the Premier League, the FA Cup now gives Daniel Farke a chance to rest some of his key men. Here is our Leeds United team news and predicted lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds United Team News and Predicted Lineup for FA Cup Fourth Round Tie vs Birmingham City<\/b><\/h2>\n

How Leeds Have Lined Up Recently<\/b><\/h3>\n

Leeds United started the season with new signing Lucas Perri as first choice goalkeeper, with Karl Darlow seen as a handy backup option to play in cup competitions. However, a combination of poor Perri performances<\/a> and impressive displays from Darlow has completely flipped the script, allowing the Welshman to firmly grasp the number one shirt.<\/span><\/p>\n

It therefore seems likely that the out-of-favour Brazilian will be back between the sticks at St Andrew\u2019s, giving him an opportunity to force his way back into the goalkeeping conversation with a solid performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>Arne Slot Names ‘Three Clear Priorities’ for Liverpool<\/a><\/p>\n

In central defence, injuries have forced Farke to switch up his usual back three of Jaka Bijol, Pascal Struijk, and Joe Rodon, with Sebastiaan Bornauw and James Justin both deputising in recent weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

At left wing-back, Gabi Gudmundsson has been ever-present this season, playing more minutes than any other Leeds player, and seemingly never running out of energy. James Justin was selected at right-wing back against Chelsea, as Farke experimented with Jayden Bogle in a more advanced role, highlighting the 25-year-old\u2019s impressive versatility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In midfield, Ilia Gruev was selected alongside captain Ethan Ampadu, which appears to have become United\u2019s first-choice midfield partnership. Despite playing a starring role as Leeds won the Championship last season, fan-favourite Ao Tanaka has fallen down the pecking order, making just seven starts this campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further forward, Bogle lined up alongside Brenden Aaronson in the number 10 position, and the defender looked completely at home in such an unfamiliar role, constantly threatening the Chelsea backline with his pace and power.<\/span><\/p>\n

Up front, Lukas Nmecha was handed a start with Calvert-Lewin unavailable, and the German fired home his sixth league goal of the season from the penalty spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Recent Form and Tactics<\/b><\/h3>\n

With Leeds still very much fighting to avoid relegation, and just a four-day gap since they played Chelsea, it seems certain that Farke will heavily rotate his team for the cup tie. Given there are just six points between them and 18th-placed West Ham, the majority of United fans would not be too dismayed with a defeat at St Andrew\u2019s, with the Leeds boss also making it clear<\/a> that the Premier League is the ‘priority’ over progressing in the cups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was highlighted when they defeated Derby in the third round, where Farke was so keen to rest defenders Bogle, Justin, and Gudmundsson that he named a starting lineup without a single recognised full-back. With title-challengers Aston Villa and Manchester City as their next two league games, expect the likes of Sam Byram and Joel Piroe to be given a rare runout against City.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Team News<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>In his pre-match press conference, Farke stated that he will not risk \u2018any player who has any doubts\u2019<\/a> against Birmingham City, meaning that the likes of Struijk and Anton Stach will not be included in the matchday squad.<\/span><\/p>\n

He did, however, confirm that Calvert-Lewin will return to the squad after recovering from an illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds United Predicted Lineup<\/b><\/p>\n

GK: Lucas Perri<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Sebastiaan Bornauw<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Ethan Ampadu<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Joe Rodon<\/span><\/p>\n

RWB: Willy Gnonto<\/span><\/p>\n

LWB: Sam Byram<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Ao Tanaka<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Sean Longstaff<\/span><\/p>\n

AM: Noah Okafor<\/span><\/p>\n

AM: Joel Piroe<\/span><\/p>\n

ST: Lukas Nmecha<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After securing a shock 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Leeds United\u2019s attention now turns to the FA Cup fourth round, where they take on Championship Birmingham City at St Andrew\u2019s. With a point against Chelsea catapulting the Whites above Tottenham Hotspur to 15th in the Premier League, the FA Cup now gives Daniel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5510,"featured_media":665256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<\/smartframe-embed>","_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":[6443,8432,30],"tags":[9646],"class_list":["post-665234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leeds-united","category-fa-cup","category-news","tag-leeds-united-predicted-lineup"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665234","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=665234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":665257,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665234\/revisions\/665257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}