Daniel Farke explains strong Leeds XI at West Ham amid Gabriel Gudmundsson injury | OneFootball

Daniel Farke named a strong Leeds United side for the FA Cup quarter-final at West Ham, citing the long gaps either side of the tie and recent training workload. It had been two weeks since the 0-0 draw with Brentford, with the Premier League return at Manchester United not until Monday, 13 April.

Joe Rodon, Anton Stach and Jayden Bogle were handed their first FA Cup starts of the season. Gabriel Gudmundsson missed out with a minor groin issue after playing twice for Sweden, while Daniel James is set to be out for a couple of weeks with a groin strain.

"First of all, more than half of the squad were involved in important games during international duty, of course, we're in a position where we have all to play for and for that we didn't allow ourselves too many days off." He was speaking to TNT Sports ahead of kick-off.

"It makes no sense to rest all the others who played no games in two weeks and the next game is just in eight days."

Leeds had not reached an FA Cup quarter-final since 2002/03 and their last semi-final was 39 years ago. "It's more than two decades ago that Leeds United were in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, so we take this game very seriously and want to be there with the best possible result."

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk