Leeds United: Daniel Farke reveals concerning Dan James update | OneFootball

The injury-prone winger has fallen foul of another niggle.

Dan James is at risk of missing Leeds United's match against Preston North End this weekend after picking up a hamstring injury in their 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, according to boss Daniel Farke.

Leeds picked up another important win as they chase down the promotion that they so agonisingly missed out on last season. The narrow victory over Michael Carrick's Boro, who themselves are looking to secure a play-off spot, took them back to the top of the Championship, thanks to their promotion rivals Burnley and Sheffield United dropping points.

At the back end of last season, Farke needed one of his players to really step up and perform when they hit the slump that ultimately cost them a spot in this season's Premier League. Prior to Tuesday night, Leeds were in the midst of a similarly rocky spell, only picking up seven points from a possible 18 in their last six matches.

But, as he has so often done this season, their Welsh winger stepped up to the plate and delivered. He scored the winning goal in midweek, albeit not of the same standard as some of his other classic goals from this campaign, putting them in a much better position to secure one of the top two spots with five games to go.

Dan James a doubt for Preston North End visit to Elland Road

The win over Middlesbrough was a deserved one. They had two goals wrongly ruled out for being offside, making James' early finish even more important. Unfortunately, it appears that they may be without him this weekend.

The 27-year-old was replaced by Isaac Schmidt in the 73rd minute. Farke revealed after the game that it was a hamstring issue which forced him off and could well rule him out for Saturday's early kick-off versus Preston.

"James had problems with his hamstring," said the boss, via Beren Cross. "Took him off not to risk anything, but it could be that the turnaround is too quick for Saturday. Does not look too good as it stands."

Leeds must kick on after Boro victory

Farke should be able to deal with the loss of James pretty effectively if he is forced to miss their next match. Wilfried Gnonto was on the bench for their trip to Teesside, as was Largie Ramazani, who went unused in the contest.

They have plenty of firepower in this area of the pitch to be able to cope with being without the Welsh international; it's the likes of Gnonto, Ramazani and Manor Solomon that Leeds need to raise their levels at this point in the season.

Chris Wilder's Blades are starting to falter slightly. Leeds can't bank on Burnley dropping points - who haven't lost a league match since early November - so they need to make sure that they step their pace up and leave the Steel City side in their dust before they can sort themselves out.