{"id":714871,"date":"2026-01-23T07:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T07:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714871\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T07:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T07:58:19","slug":"leeds-united-predicted-xi-vs-everton-amid-noah-okafor-and-lukas-nmecha-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/714871\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United predicted XI vs Everton amid Noah Okafor and Lukas Nmecha debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Noah Okafor has not scored or assisted for Leeds United since October 4<\/p>\n

Isaac Johnson<\/strong> Leeds United reporter<\/p>\n

06:00, 23 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"Noah<\/p>\n

Noah Okafor(Image: Molly Darlington\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest debate point heading into Leeds United\u2019s clash with Everton on Monday is who starts alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin.<\/p>\n

Noah Okafor<\/a> has not registered a goal contribution since October yet has started 10 of the 14 Premier League games since his close-range strike against Tottenham Hotspur. The winger has shown his ability to take on a man but has lacked end product.<\/p>\n

He has often partnered Calvert-Lewin due to Leeds\u2019<\/a> tactics, morphing from the 3-5-2 into a 3-4-3 with wingers when in possession; Okafor goes out to the left with Brenden Aaronson taking up the right side.<\/p>\n

Yet some are wishing for last weekend\u2019s match-winner Lukas Nmecha<\/a> to come in, having seen what he and Calvert-Lewin can do against Chelsea. The pair have not started a game together since then.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW OUR LUFC FACEBOOK PAGE!<\/strong> Latest news, analysis and more on our Leeds United FB page<\/a><\/p>\n

However, given his distasterous cameo before his goal and his lack of vigour when brought off the bench in a hybrid left-wing role in other matches, Farke could stick with Okafor alongside former Toffees man Calvert-Lewin.<\/p>\n

Anton Stach missed the match against Fulham through an adductor injury but he is expected to be back for Monday.<\/p>\n

However, given Farke namechecked Ilia Gruev for his performance after a clean sheet against Fulham, and the match being away from home, Ilia Gruev could get the nod with Stach coming off the bench later.<\/p>\n

Aaronson will surely retain his spot alongside anchor Ethan Ampadu in midfield. Behind them, there seems little reason to take James Justin out of his right centre-back slot amid Jaka Bijol\u2019s setback. The defence did brilliantly to snuff out Fulham\u2019s threat last weekend, with the Cottagers limited to just 0.39 xG.<\/p>\n

That set-up means Joe Rodon stays central with Pascal Struijk on the left of the three and Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson – if recovered in time from his adductor issue – on the flanks.<\/p>\n

If Gudmundsson does not make the cut then Justin could move over on the left while Sebastiaan Bornauw comes into the right centre-half slot. The hope is that the Swede will be fine to play.<\/p>\n

Karl Darlow will start in goal given there is no reason to drop him, though he is expected to be tested more against Everton than he was at Fulham.<\/p>\n

Predicted XI [3-5-2]:<\/strong> Darlow; Justin, Rodon, Struijk; Bogle, Aaronson, Ampadu, Gruev, Gudmundsson; Okafor, Calvert-Lewin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noah Okafor has not scored or assisted for Leeds United since October 4 Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,1467,4884,1860,24464,76439,121657,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-714871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-everton-fc","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-leeds-united-fc","14":"tag-lukas-nmecha","15":"tag-noah-okafor","16":"tag-premier-league","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115943355436184246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}