Leeds United return to action at Elland Road this afternoon as they welcome Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town after two away games in succession.
The Whites had mixed luck on their travels as they followed up a stunning 3-2 win at Carrow Road against Norwich City with a 1-0 defeat away to Stoke City in midweek.
Daniel Farke’s side endured a frustrating night on Wednesday as Patrick Bamford missed a penalty just minutes before Pascal Struijk’s own goal secured all three points for the home side.
Leeds will now be hoping to return to winning ways against the Terriers in the early kick-off today and one move the manager must make in order to give his team a better chance of doing so is unleashing Crysencio Summerville from the start over Wilfried Gnonto.
The Dutch winger was reduced to a cameo role off the bench against Stoke as he has been playing with painkillers to deal with a shoulder injury but is said to be available for this clash.
Wilfried Gnonto’s statistics against Stoke
Gnonto should be moved out of the XI after his disappointing display against the Potters in midweek as the Italy international failed to make the most of his opportunity to impress.
The 19-year-old gem played 70 minutes and, yet, failed to make a significant impact in or out of possession before being taken off the pitch before Leeds won the penalty that Bamford ultimately missed.
He failed to register a single shot on target and did not create any chances for his teammates from a wide position, along with a 0% dribble success rate (0/1).
In total, Gnonto has chipped in with one goal and one assist in seven Championship games and is yet to prove that he has the consistency to be a reliable starter week-in-week-out.
Summerville must now be brought in to take his place on the wing as the Dutch wizard has been in sublime form throughout the 2023/24 campaign to date.
The statistics that show why Summerville should start against Huddersfield
The 21-year-old magician, who was hailed as “impressive” by journalist Leon Wobschal earlier this term, has caught the eye with his ability to score goals and create chances for others.
Only Joel Piroe (five) has scored more Championship goals for Leeds than the Dutch ace (four) and this shows that he is one of Farke’s biggest goalscoring threats.
They are the only two players with more than two league goals to their name so far this season and Summerville’s absence for the opening 70 minutes was felt as the Whites failed to score against Stoke.
Summerville’s creativity has also been a key feature of his play as the young dynamo has produced a superb 2.6 key passes per match, which is at least 0.2 more per game than any other player within the squad has managed.
Gnonto, meanwhile, has only created 0.6 chances per clash to go along with his one league goal and this suggests that he is an inferior attacking option to the 5 foot 6 sensation, due to their respective outputs in the final third.
Therefore, Farke must move the Italian youngster aside in order to bring Summerville straight back into the starting XI after his reduced role against Stoke.
