Johnny Howson is available to face West Ham United, and Max Gradel could also be back to face the club who have made a confirmed offer for his services.

Simon Grayson has a selection dilemma for the trip to Upton Park, as Howson and Gradel have served their one match bans that resulted from their being sent off against Middlesboro. But he may be reluctant to change the team who bounced back to beat Hull comprehensively in midweek.  Leeds have no new injury problems, but it will be a while before Becchio and Somma are back in action and Leigh Bromby is still out with his hamstring injury

As ever, the manager was giving nothing away before the game when he spoke to the official site. "The players who came in did well. We have two outstanding players coming back and we know what they can do. These are good decisions to make and they're what you want as a manager. There won't be major changes. There might be one or two, there might not be any." Personally, I’d like to see him sticking with a two man attack, to be accommodated by dropping Brown to the bench, with Clayton and Howson playing in central midfield.

One intriguing sub-plot is that West Ham are reported to have offered £2.5million, which this is well short of Leeds' valuation of the player, although Grayson has admitted that Leeds will be willing to sell if the price is right. "If they come back in with three or four times the money they offered previously, then it'll be something to think about." And the manager is not concerned that Max’s motivation might be to impress his possible new club. “Every time a player pulls on the shirt, you want him to play to the maximum of his ability - and that's the case with Max”.

West Ham’s willingness to splash the cash is a surprise when they got relegated with an overdraft of over £50 million, so they are obviously gambling on going straight up to the Premiership at the first attempt. At yesterday’s press conference Sam Allardyce was in a buoyant mood as he described the the way his side had bounced back from the opening defeat by Cardiff. “We have overcome that by grabbing two very crucial away victories on the trot and boosting everyone's confidence at the club. The first-team squad are feeling good about themselves and hopefully they are pretty excited about Sunday's game against Leeds”.

West Ham will check on defender James Tomkins after he limped off in the second half of their win at Watford with a hamstring niggle, while striker John Carew could be added to the squad for the first time since his recent move to Upton Park.

I think Leeds will do well to earn a point in this difficult away fixture, but we might just get one.

Photo: Action Images

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