{"id":669732,"date":"2026-05-17T04:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T08:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=669732"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:33:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T12:33:47","slug":"leeds-united-vs-brighton-predicted-lineups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/05\/17\/leeds-united-vs-brighton-predicted-lineups\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United vs Brighton: Team News and Predicted Lineups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last Word on Sports brings you the latest team news and predicted lineups for the Leeds United vs Brighton EPL clash at Elland Road.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has been an outstanding season for hosts Leeds, who shot up to 14th place after a draw at Tottenham last time out, and now have the luxury of playing the final two games of the season with no real pressure. For the Seagulls, victory could propel them into 6th place, putting them in pole position for a Europa League spot and highlighting just how successful Fabian Hurzeler has been on the South Coast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/05\/16\/five-fa-cup-final-goals\/\" target=\"_self\">Top Five FA Cup Final Wonder Goals<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><b>Leeds United vs Brighton: Team News and Predicted Lineups as Seagulls Chase Europa League Spot<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Date:<\/strong> Sunday 17th May 2026<br \/>\n<strong>Venue:<\/strong> Elland Road<br \/>\n<strong>Kick-Off:<\/strong> 15:00 GMT<br \/>\n<strong>Last Meeting:<\/strong> Brighton 3-0 Leeds (November 1st 2025, Premier League)<br \/>\n<strong>Referee:<\/strong> Michael Oliver<br \/>\n<strong>Current Odds:<\/strong> Leeds 12\/5, Brighton 23\/20<\/p>\n<h3><b>Leeds United Team News<\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"04742eb90cefa12a5e3ab9bae92c2b93\" image-id=\"neimFJomqNmJ\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5804px; aspect-ratio: 5804\/3869;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Sr1IXYjXYYc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pre-match press conference<\/a>, Leeds boss Daniel Farke said his side would be without Ilia Gruev, Noah Okafor, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle for the Brighton game, making a highly rotated side likely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The German added that Pascal Struijk was also a \u2018big doubt\u2019, and that captain Ethan Ampadu was suffering with illness, making the Welshman a \u2018major doubt\u2019 for Sunday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the injury crisis, he said: \u201cWe want to finish as strong as possible and with the best possible result.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI back my whole group and I back my players also in these circumstances to deliver one more top performance here at home and to be competitive against a really strong side who is fighting for Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asked about his own future with his contract expiring in 2027, he said: \u201cWhen I signed the contract three years ago we spoke about the goals, what we want to achieve, and I have to say my mission is fulfilled, and my job is done here, and there\u2019s nothing to add anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s important for the club that we sit together in a trustful atmosphere to speak about new goals. We have to speak about new goals, the way we want to achieve it, the processes and then before I speak about the future, the club has to decide where we want to be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Brighton &amp; Hove Albion Team News<\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"1ffbae35d432d0d71911ca2a0b209fbb\" image-id=\"prsiya8Sc8dr\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 1368px; aspect-ratio: 1368\/912;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IqskkjVdpcs\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">his press conference<\/a>, Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler confirmed that winger Kaoru Mitoma is unavailable for the final two games of the season after suffering a hamstring injury against Wolves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the Japanese international\u2019s injury, the German said it was a \u2018big blow\u2019, but that the club has shown \u2018the whole season that we can replace important players.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elsewhere, Diego Gomez is back in contention to play on Sunday, whilst Mats Wieffer could also make his return to the matchday squad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the possibility of his side securing Champions League football if results go their way, Hurzeler said: \u201cI feel the biggest excitement going to the special stadium, to the special atmosphere, facing a really strong opponent and preparing my team the best we can prepare.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asked about facing Leeds, he said: \u201cI am expecting a team that is difficult to beat. I think they haven\u2019t lost since March in the Premier League, so it shows they\u2019re on a really good run.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think it is a special atmosphere playing in their stadium. The fans are behind them, they\u2019ve achieved something really nice by staying in the league so we expect a tough challenge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/05\/12\/5-players-transfer-summer\/\" target=\"_self\">Five Influential Players Who Could Transfer This Summer<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Leeds United Predicted Lineup<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GK: Karl Darlow<\/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: Sebastiaan Bornauw<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RWB: Willy Gnonto<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LWB: James Justin<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CM: Ao Tanaka<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CM: Sean Longstaff<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AM: Anton Stach<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AM: Brenden Aaronson\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Brighton Predicted Lineup<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GK: Bart Verbruggen<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RB: Ferdi Kadioglu<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CB: Jan-Paul Van Hecke<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CB: Lewis Dunk<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LB: Maxim De Cuyper<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DM: Carlos Baleba<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DM: Pascal Gross<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RW: Yankuba Minteh<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AM: Jack Hinshelwood<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LW: Georginio Rutter<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ST: Danny Welbeck<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Featured image courtesy of Imago\/Colorsport<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Word on Sports brings you the latest team news and predicted lineups for the Leeds United vs Brighton EPL clash at Elland Road. It has been an outstanding season for hosts Leeds, who shot up to 14th place after a draw at Tottenham last time out, and now have the luxury of playing the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5510,"featured_media":669747,"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":[1265,1828,1830,6443,30,9367,3],"tags":[9439,31748,32650,32189,9747,9646,9724],"class_list":["post-669732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brighton-and-hove-albion","category-fixtures","category-injuries","category-leeds-united","category-news","category-predictions","category-premier-league","tag-brighton-news","tag-brighton-predicted-lineup","tag-brighton-team-news","tag-injury-news","tag-leeds-united-news","tag-leeds-united-predicted-lineup","tag-leeds-united-team-news"],"modified_by":"Barry Dixon, LWOF Site Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669732","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=669732"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669749,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669732\/revisions\/669749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}