Warnock ponders change for Blackpool after Green picks up injury

LEEDS United look like having to make at least one change to their team for their second Npower Championship game of the season at Blackpool tonight.

Midfielder Paul Green is unlikely to feature after suffering a knee injury in last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Wolves.

The Republic of Ireland international was forced to leave the field just before half-time after trying several times to carry on and has since undergone scans to assess the extent of the injury with manager Neil Warnock fearing the worst.

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He said: “We don’t know the extent of it and we’re waiting for the results of the scan.

“I don’t think it’s going to be very good and we could be losing him for a few weeks if we’re lucky.

“You can see it on the replay. It’s not just his knee that gets caught, the player lands on it as well, so it is worse than what we thought at the time.

“He’s done ever so well, but that’s why you have a squad. We don’t want too many injuries at once, and it will be better when it’s one game a week.”

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Green could be replaced by El Hadji Diouf, who came on as substitute for him against Wolves, with another option being to push 18-year-old Sam Byram into midfield, bringing defender Tom Lees back in with Lee Peltier switching to his preferred position of right-back.

Warnock is also considering bringing transfer listed Danny Pugh back into the squad as cover for Green.

The manager, meanwhile, is convinced Leeds will go to Blackpool in a much stronger position than they did last season when they surrendered tamely.

He said: “We did well to lose 1-0 last year, to be honest. I remember thinking that night, ‘it will be nice to come back with a proper team next year’.

“There were a lot of things missing that night and I didn’t like that.”