On Tuesday night, Leeds United make the trip to fellow Championship side Plymouth for an FA Cup fourth-round replay. The first meeting between the sides at Elland Road finished 1-1, with Adam Randell equalising for the visitors in the final 20 minutes after Jaidon Anthony had given Daniel Farke's side the lead.
The incentive for the winner is a fifth-round match-up with either Chelsea or Aston Villa, who themselves will meet in a replay on Wednesday night. But heading into the game, Farke is dealing with a few injury problems.
Winger Dan James is out until at least the weekend, when Leeds take on Rotherham, after injuring his hip in the first half of the recent win over Norwich, while centre-back Pascal Struijk, who's been unavailable since Boxing Day with an ongoing adductor issue, is expected to be missing until the end of February. Stuart Dallas remains a long-term absentee after breaking his leg in 2022.
Shackleton now on the sidelines for Leeds
Farke is now set to be without a fourth player for the game at Home Park, with BBC Sport's Adam Pope reporting that Jamie Shackleton is a "major doubt" as a result of illness.
In a subsequent tweet, he adds that Farke has no fresh injury concerns and intends to take the game "seriously" while making changes amid the Whites' push for promotion to the Premier League.
Shackleton had shone in first game
Farke has described Shackleton as "an unbelievably important" part of his squad, and he showed exactly why when he stepped into the team for the first game against Plymouth and delivered an excellent performance.
Tackles
3
=1st
Ground duel success rate
100%
1st
Total duel success rate
75%
2nd
Passing accuracy (min. 40 attempted)
89%
4th
Possession lost (starters)
5
1st
As you can see in the table above, he was rock-solid defensively and looked after the ball well too, but Farke may now have to ask 17-year-old Archie Gray, who's already clocked more than 2,500 minutes this season, to start yet another match.
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Since the end of September, Shackleton has started more games in the cup (two) than he has in the league (one), so he'll be particularly frustrated to miss the opportunity. It's recently emerged that Leeds intend to offer him a new contract ahead of the expiry of his current deal in the summer, and this would have been an opportunity to improve his stock before those negotiations take place. If Leeds go out, it's unclear where his next opportunity will come.