Leeds United’s injury dilemma in midfield was dealt another frustrating blow with Ilia Gruev revealed to have been played by his Bulgaria manager despite carrying an injury.

United’s focus after the international break turns to a trip down to Fulham on Saturday afternoon, as Daniel Farke aims for his first away points of the season at Craven Cottage.

It comes following four points from his opening three games back in the Premier League, where he earned a respectable point at home to Newcastle United despite missing two of his starting midfielders due to injury.

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Ilia Gruev suffers international injury setback away from Leeds United

Farke will have been hoping for his squad to return from international duty with a clean bill of health, but further headaches are forthcoming in midfield.

That’s because he already had two international midfielders sitting out of this break after respective MCL issues for Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka, and now Ilia Gruev could be recovering from a problem.

Having started in a 3-0 defeat against Spain in World Cup qualifying, Bulgaria head coach Ilian Iliev confirmed that he brought Gruev off the bench for 45 minutes against Georgia despite the fact he was carrying an injury.

Ilia Gruev played 135 minutes for Bulgaria in the past week despite a confirmed injury problem. (REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze)

“Gruev had problems, questionable whether to start or come in as a sub. He came in and coped, I hope there are no consequences from the fact that he played with problems,” Iliev said, per Palms Sport.

Daniel Farke faces triple headache ahead of Fulham clash, three Leeds United midfielders could miss out

Farke’s attention will be fixed on a trip down to Craven Cottage this weekend against Fulham, which will provide another stern test on the road against a side that have established themselves well since promotion back in 2022.

The Cottagers are winless, but are a goal better off than Leeds’ one so far, and Farke’s United will require a strong performance to come away from Marco Silva’s Fulham with anything.

(Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough)

Leeds and Farke’s main issue is what to do with the midfield, now likely to have three midfielders that won’t be at 100% – hopefully Ampadu and Tanaka’s post-international break timescale has them back up to speed this week.

Should he have none of these three available, it looks as though a change in formation might have to follow, reverting to a 4-2-3-1 with a pairing of Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff in front of the back four, potentially with Brenden Aaronson in front as the ’10’.

It’s less than ideal that Farke could be forced to change shape after plenty of work in pre-season on a 4-3-3 setup, but this weekend looks a case of needs must.

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