Junior Firpo has revealed Leeds United are currently battling a squad illness threatening to impact their Premier League promotion push, with the defender admitting he almost vomitted in Monday night’s win over Middlesbrough.
Leeds United made it far from easy, but they registered a huge win over Middlesbrough on Monday night.
Patrick Bamford and Wilfried Gnonto found the back of the net in between a brace from Crysencio Summerville.
However, a strike from Isaiah Jones and a Latte Lath double turned up the pressure on the Leeds manager and his squad.
Several chances fell the way of the hosts at the Riverside Stadium, but they were unable to find another opening.
It meant that Leeds took another important three points on their way towards promotion from the Championship.
With a huge match against QPR on Friday, there’s a quick turnaround for the squad coming up.
Leeds United squad illness
It appears as though Leeds weren’t just battling Middlesbrough on Monday night, as much of the squad was suffering from an illness.
Star defender Junior Firpo has revealed that he is amongst those who played through sickness against Boro.
Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, he said: “I’ve been with a fever [for] three days, I’ve been ill today, a few lads were feeling the same, we have a little bit illness in the squad.
“This shows how important it is to be ready, everyone was ready.
“Everyone was living everything, including myself, including Jaidon [Anthony] who was ill.
“As I say a few lads were ill, including myself, I was about to throw up in the second half. It was tough.”
Leeds United injuries and concerns
With only a few days between their victory over Middlesbrough and their clash with QPR, Leeds will need to recuperate and prepare themselves quickly for the challenge ahead.
On top of those illness worries, there are injury concerns to deal with.
Daniel Farke has already been dealt a blow, with Pascal Struijk out for the season, while Connor Roberts is expected to be missing until the Southampton clash.
On top of that, the Leeds manager gave an update on potential injury concerns for Joe Rodon and Daniel James, with the pair struggling at the end of the match against Boro and now labelled as potential doubts for Friday.
Championship promotion race
The race for promotion from the Championship is heating up as the final few games of the season drift past.
Leeds have put themselves back in the top two with a victory over Middlesbrough, though Ipswich Town hold one game in hand that could push them into the automatic promotion places.
That extra game will become two for the Tractor Boys over the weekend, due to The Whites playing on Friday against QPR.
It means that Farke’s side will have played two of their final three games before their rivals play any of their run-in.
Should that trip to the capital produce another victory for Leeds, it will put all of the pressure back onto Ipswich, knowing that points are already on the board.
Leicester and Southampton are far from out of proceedings as well, with every team looking to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.