Joe Rodon ruled out for Leeds' next three Premier League games
The Wales centre-half will miss the New Year's Day fixture at Liverpool
Daniel Farke has confirmed defender Joe Rodon will be out until after next month's FA Cup tie due to the ankle injury sustained at Sunderland on Sunday.
Wales centre-half Rodon will miss his first league game in over two years - since October 2023 - at Liverpool on New Year's Day, having played in 104 consecutive matches. He had been closing in on Leeds great Norman Hunter's run of 113 successive league games between 1962-65.
Farke said: "He will definitely miss the Liverpool game. The diagnosis is better than we were fearing straight after the game. It didn't look good, but the assessment is ankle ligament injury and normally for such an injury you would be out for around three weeks.
"It's realistic that he will miss the next (three) league games, including also the FA Cup game and hopefully the other side of that we'll have him back."
Farke said Sebastiaan Bornauw, Sam Byram and James Justin were all in contention to replace Rodon in a three-man central defence, while he did not rule out changing his successful 3-5-2 formation at Anfield.
The Leeds head coach added: "Joe has been impressive over the course of many months. He's a quality player and a key player for us, so it's always a bit tricky but sometimes you can't choose.
"Sometimes it's beneficial to just put a player into the water and very often, if he is prepared, he can prove he can swim straightaway and it's a chance right now for a different player to play in this position.
"Or perhaps, if we change our formation, for an additional midfield player or offensive player to show a good performance and I don't complain too much. We have to adapt to the situation."