Saturday’s draw with Swansea City, which saw Illan Meslier make two more awful errors after saving a penalty, has seen Sheffield United go two points clear and more worrying, Burnley get level on points.
Leeds must return to winning ways while automatic promotion is still in their reach or face the agony of depending on Burnley or Sheffield United to drop points, which doesn’t seem possible at this time. Leeds will travel to Luton Town on Saturday in search of a vital win, and Daniel Farke has a lot of decisions to make, including the selection of Wilfried Gnonto.
Graham Smyth convinced Wilfried Gnonto starts against Luton
Despite not starting a league game in 2025, Gnonto entered the game as a number 10 at halftime against QPR. The 13-time Italy star, who took Brenden Aaronson’s place, produced Leeds’ second goal with a deftly incisive pass.
However, Gnonto suffered an ankle injury while playing for Italy U21 and had to leave early. Despite scoring his sixth goal of the season on Saturday afternoon, he was only able to play the last few minutes against Swansea.
According to Farke, Gnonto was almost ready to start. Now, Graham Smyth stated to The Square Ball that he anticipates Gnonto to start: “Gnonto would have started today [Saturday] if he hadn’t injured his ankle for the Italy U21’s.”
“I’m convinced of that. I think he will start at Luton. Farke goes with the hot hand, if a player scores or has a bit of momentum, he does tend to put him in and if he has a week without any issues, he will come in.”
Where will Gnonto play and could Farke make other changes?
Despite Aaronson’s poor performance, Gnonto entered the game as a 10 against QPR, and on Saturday, the American scored his ninth goal of the year. It turned out that Aaronson was ranked as Leeds’ second-best player.
Therefore, Aaronson might keep his position. Given that both Dan James and Manor Solomon have been struggling recently, Gnonto will need to enter on the wings. Farke favors the right-hand Gnonto.
Meanwhile, Ao Tanaka is probably going to start in midfield, and Junior Firpo will undoubtedly replace Sam Byram. After his showing signs of rust, is Ethan Ampadu well enough to start? Then there is the Meslier problem, of course.
