Daniel Farke will know his Leeds United side cannot keep stuttering in the Championship if they want to secure automatic promotion instead of settling for the unwanted stresses of the playoffs.
The Whites are going through a sticky patch of form right at the time where teams need to pick up crunch results to ensure their season doesn't unfortunately fizzle out, with Farke's men last winning at the start of the month versus Hull City.
Since then, only a point has been secured from their next three second-tier clashes with only one strike also rippling the back of the net from a Whites perspective.
This could result in the German boss tinkering with his Leeds XI drastically in order to try and spark a reaction from his low-on-confidence group, with plenty of selection dilemmas for the 47-year-old to address.
Leeds team news vs Middlesbrough
Leeds will be without Connor Roberts who is unavailable for selection away at Middlesbrough, with the Welsh loanee looking likely to be out for the game at the Riverside Stadium and the clash at Queens Park Rangers after owing to injury issues.
Pascal Struijk is also another known absentee for the clash on the road at Michael Carrick's Boro, the former Ajax centre-back missing since the end of December and that looks very much likely to continue until the end of the campaign.
Farke drops Piroe in predicted Leeds lineup vs Middlesbrough
The possible starting XI that the German head coach could select on Monday night.
ByDan Emery
Away from those injury concerns, there are a number of selection conundrums for Farke to still ponder based on form alone with Joel Piroe unspectacular last time out versus Blackburn Rovers.
The former Swansea City man has only bagged one goal in his last 11 Championship appearances, fearful he could face the chop after his anonymous showing against the Riversiders too – the out-of-sorts Whites number seven seeing his two efforts blocked at Elland Road when trying to fire home past Aynsley Pears.
Moreover, with Roberts ruled out, there could well be a tinker from Farke in the central midfield positions to accompany Ilia Gruev.
Archie Gray looks likely to return to the right-back spot with the Burnley loanee unfit to play, freeing up a space for Glen Kamara to return to the Leeds lineup after sitting out the 1-0 defeat to Blackburn.
Glen Kamara's season in numbers
The former Rangers man has been largely a permanent fixture in the Whites team chasing an immediate return to the Premier League this season, proving himself to be a shrewd purchase by amassing 36 appearances to date.
The Finland international's absence was arguably felt in the narrow lunchtime defeat to Blackburn last time out, with Gray winning just 50% of his duels against John Eustace's men in that crushing 1-0 loss.
Gray would also come away from the contest with an 84% pass accuracy, which is below Kamara's average this season when the ex-Rangers man has cooly been able to strut his stuff for Leeds from deep.
Kamara has averaged a superior 93% pass accuracy this season when playing, according to Sofascore, with Leeds needing a calm and measured head like the Finnish midfielder if the game at Boro becomes tetchy and tense.
Moreover, even when Leeds have put in a shoddy display recently, Kamara has shone all the same.
The measured 28-year-old managed to tee up Crysencio Summerville to score a spectacular strike away at Vicarage Road to close out March, picking up his third assist in Leeds white in the process.
In that same game, Mateo Joseph would also be a hero by scoring the equalising strike a matter of seconds after being introduced into the contest.
Now, the 20-year-old striker will hope he's given the nod to start up top over an uninspiring Piroe tonight knowing that the centre-forward spot at Leeds is very much up for grabs currently.
Mateo Joseph's season in numbers
With Bamford also misfiring of late for Leeds in that lone striker role – the former Boro attacker not scoring since the 8th of March for Farke's men – Joseph's chance to shine in the spotlight from the start could finally come at the Riverside.
The 20-year-old striker has impressed in spurts playing in the first team this season, firing in four goals from 24 games with all of those minutes restricted to fleeting appearances from off the bench.
Joseph would only need six minutes of action to bag a crucial equaliser against Watford, managing just seven touches of the ball before instinctively finding the back of the net against a bewildered Hornets side.
Chelsea have also felt the goalscoring wrath of the young hotshot in the FA Cup earlier this campaign, with the Spanish attacker helping himself to a brace in the action-packed tie at Stamford Bridge back in February.
Previously hailed as being "dynamite" by football scout Antonio Mango when emerging as a name tipped for greatness at Leeds, Farke must be tempted to give the full-throttle forward a chance to impress from the get-go to unsettle Carrick's men to try and pick up a much-needed victory.
3-2 Leeds W
2nd December 2023
0-1 Leeds W
26th February 2020
4-0 Leeds W
30th November 2019
1-1 draw
9th February 2019
0-0 draw
31st August 2018
Leeds will look to keep up their good form against Boro over their last five head-to-head meetings when they travel to the Riverside, with none of these past clashes being as pressurised and as meaningful as the one tonight however.
Farke switching up his Whites lineup here and there could well make the difference, knowing that another disappointing result will just make the games to follow after Boro away even more nervy as the end of the regular season comes into view at a lightning pace.
Farke could unearth Bamford heir in Leeds' "class" academy forward
The Whites boss could have an exciting future duo in the young gem and Mateo Joseph.
ByDan Emery
