James missed the defeat to Arsenal with a back injury having picked up the issue while away with Wales

Daniel Farke will give an update on Dan James’ fitness later today but it appears as though he is in contention to make Sunday’s squad against former club Manchester United.

James missed last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal having sustained a back problem while away with Wales. However, the winger appeared on Radio X on Thursday morning and was asked about his fitness.

“I’m working hard and we’ll see how the next few days go, really,” he replied. “The weekends are the best things. To play in front of the fans is amazing and especially last season I missed out on a lot of games.

“It is hard to watch - you want to cheer your team on, but it is hard to watch knowing you can’t influence the game.”

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One player who will not be returning any time soon is Mateo Joseph. The attacker, who has been named on the club’s Premier League squad list, is currently undergoing rehabilitation for his anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered on loan at Mallorca last season.

Such setbacks take a while to heal from, and Joseph is not expected back until 2027. His agent, Pep Arau, this week posted an image of his client on his Instagram story. Notably, it was him playing for Mallorca, against Real Madrid.

Arau wrote: "Getting closer to returning every day. Six months." It is not clear whether the six months is in reference to his recovery timeline or the length of time since he picked up his injury, back in April.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Gudmundsson was seen wearing an oxygen mask while away with Sweden over the last international break. Illness had spread within the Swedish camp after their 1-0 win over Romania, Gudmundsson himself feeling a bit under the weather.

He managed to last the full game against Arsenal, so appears to have recovered fine. But he was asked by native outlet Expressen about the reason behind his oxygen mask selfie.

The defender explained how he was actually inside an oxygen chamber at the time. “It's supposed to increase blood flow in the body,” he said.

“Don't ask me too much about it, because I don't know much about it. I'm just testing it out! There are a lot of things you can do to recover today. Of course, you're testing a bit because there are so many matches. You try to prioritise recovery as much as you can.”

A player’s off-field life is just as important as what happens at work, and that includes feeling settled after a transfer. Nico Elvedi told BBC Radio Leeds this week that he feels more at ease having finally moved into his new house recently.

Having already looked at home within the Leeds team, becoming a regular following his move from Borussia Monchengladbach in pre-season, that only bodes well for Elvedi and his Leeds form.