Early Leeds team news: Major blow as key man to miss clash against Cardiff – reliable journalist
By Alex Stevens
Pontus Jansson is set to miss Leeds’ Championship clash against Cardiff on Saturday afternoon, according to a reliable journalist.
Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent Phil Hay claimed on his personal Twitter account 90 minutes before kick-off that the centre-back will be sidelined.
Hay, who is a reliable source of Leeds information, did not state why the defender will miss out and admitted it had not been confirmed but was “hearing that Jansson is missing today”.
It comes as a surprise as manager Garry Monk made no mention of the possibility that Jansson could be absent at his pre-match media conference of Thursday when he revealed that long-term absentee Charlie Taylor was the only player unavailable for selection.
The absence of the Sweden international is a major blow to Leeds as they aim to get back to winning ways following their 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield last weekend.
Jansson has been a mainstay of the team that shrugged off a poor start to the campaign to challenge strongly for promotion.
The 25-year-old has established a strong centre-back partnership with Kyle Bartley that has been the foundation of the team’s against-the-odds challenge for a return to the top flight after 13 years in the lower leagues.
Leeds announced last week that Jansson had agreed a three-year contract with the club that will come into effect when his season-long loan from Torino ends in May.
Leeds are fifth in the table after accumulating 54 points from 30 matches, while Cardiff’s 30 games have yielded 36 points.
Taylor has missed the last 10 matches after breaking down during Leeds’ pre-Christmas win against Brentford on 17 December.
In other Leeds team news, the club came within a whisker of signing this forward on deadline day.
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