Farke makes statement of faith in Lukas Nmecha amid Calvert-Lewin injury worry

Daniel Farke has hinted that Leeds United might not alter set-up despite Dominic Calvert-Lewin against Sunderland on Sunday, should the England international be unavailable.

Calvert-Lewin is a doubt for the trip to the Stadium of Light due after suffering a bruise to the ankle following a challenge late in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United. It is possible that Farke is without all of his starting front line against the Black Cats.

Noah Okafor is a doubt with an adductor problem while Anton Stach has an issue with his foot. All three key players have missed training sessions this week.

Calvert-Lewin has had a fantastic start to the season with five goals in nine games across all competitions, while his hold-up play and general link-up abilities have proved vital for Leeds’ attacking success.

Asked on the timeline and severity on Calvert-Lewin, Farke said: “Difficult to say. It has improved over the last days, but he was not involved in team training yet. If the game would be today, or even tomorrow, there would be no chance to be involved.

“But the good thing is we have a bit more time, 48 hours. Of course, he's an important player, and yeah, it's not a muscle injury where you have to be extra careful. It's more or less just a painful injury, and as long as he can handle the pain then everything will be OK.

“Very similar with Anton, it's different when you have a muscle injury like Noah. You have to be perhaps even a bit more careful in terms of minutes, I think, if you miss perhaps four or five days in training.”

Should Calvert-Lewin be ruled out, Lukas Nmecha will lead the line and earn his first Premier League start of the season. The attacker is the firm back-up to Calvert-Lewin but scored seven goals across all matches last season.

When asked whether Leeds would have to change their style of play should Calvert-Lewin be ruled out, Farke replied: “Each and every player is dissimilar to a different player, but the good thing is that Lukas has also similar strength to Dominic.

“His physicality is there, also his workload against the ball is quite good. He's capable of scoring goals, also sometimes out of nothing. He’s also good with his head. So I trust them both.

“I always can trust Lukas if he comes in or if he starts from the beginning. Of course, it's not like in each of the game possible to shine. Even also for Dominic, it's not possible in each of the game to shine.

“But I totally back my strikers to do the job, and whoever is on the pitch has my backing and has my trust. And I'm always quite confident that they can show really good and also important performance.”