Garry Monk responds when asked if Leeds will have Pontus Jansson back available for Brentford clash

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Pontus Jansson was missing from the Leeds United squad that lost 1-0 to Reading at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

Leeds manager Garry Monk

Leeds boss Garry Monk has confirmed to BBC Radio Leeds that Pontus Jansson ruled himself out of the Whites’ clash with Reading on Saturday due to a hamstring problem, but admitted that he does not know yet whether the Sweden international will be back available for the game with Brentford this week.

Jansson – who was excellent for his country during the international break – was missing from the matchday squad for Leeds’ crucial game with the Royals on Saturday evening as Liam Cooper kept his place alongside Kyle Bartley while Monk was unable to pick another defender to sit on the bench.

And it is fair to say that Leeds undoubtedly missed him as Jaap Stam’s men moved themselves up to fourth with a 1-0 win. But Monk was unable to shed any light on whether Jansson will return for the trip to Griffin Park.

“We don’t know,” he told BBC Radio Leeds when asked about the 26-year-old’s availability for midweek.

“We’ll assess all the players overnight and tomorrow. Pontus ruled himself out this morning, he said he felt [he had] a tight hamstring, so we’ll be assessing that like we’ll be assessing all the players over this evening and tomorrow, so then we’ll have to make the decisions on who’s available, who’s ready to put a performance in on Tuesday.”

Pontus Jansson of Leeds United

While the scoreline was close and Leeds did rally in the second-half, it was arguably only thanks to goalkeeper Rob Green that they did not face more of an uphill battle after the break as the back four was carved open on a number of occasions.

Cooper, in particular, struggled and was involved in a ugly incident towards the end of the game involving Reece Oxford. Given that it would hardly be a surprise if the defender gets in some retrospective trouble for the incident if it transpires that the officials did not see what happened, Monk could certainly do with having Jansson back as quickly as possible.