Leeds United head coach Garry Monk spoke to the press as his side prepare for Saturday’s Yorkshire derby with Barnsley.

The Whites head to Oakwell looking for a fourth win on the bounce, knowing a victory will keep United in third place in the Sky Bet Championship.

Monk heaped praise on the support United will have away from home, but is expecting a tricky affair, despite Barnsley coming into the game without a win in three matches.

“It is great that we will have 6,000 travelling fans, I imagine in terms of atmosphere it will be similar to the Preston game on Boxing Day,” said Monk

“To see that stand full of our fans, with the voice and support they will bring, will really help our players in the game.

“It will be a difficult game, it is a local derby and Barnsley have done exceptionally well this season, their manager and players deserve a lot of credit for what they have done.

“They try and play football in the right way, in a way that I like, so they are going to pose problems for us.

“We have to be ready and focused, we need to be at 100% and impose ourselves on them and hopefully we can do ourselves and our fans justice.

“This group is growing all the time, we have had to adapt to certain situations, last Friday we had to make changes to the defence and the team coped with it extremely well.

“The whole team understood the situation, whoever steps into the team has delivered a good performance, to give us a chance of winning games and it is great to have that as a group.

“There will be ups and downs, but we remain focused on our work and our way of playing, with the right attitude and we know it can be successful.

“I think there is a lot more to come from this group and that is for me to push to get it out of them and the team to get it out of each other to make sure they can deliver.”

Ahead of Saturday’s trip Monk also gave an update on the current injury situation at Elland Road.

He said: “The squad is looking good, we are the same as before the Derby County match, Pontus Jansson is suspended and Charlie Taylor will be unavailable, but the rest of the squad are looking forward to the game.

“Charlie’s inflammation has gone down, it is now just a case of building him back up and getting him back out on the pitches.

“We have sent him off to see specialists and the news has come back that what we have been doing is right, so we need to keep assessing him daily.

“Liam Cooper still has a bit of soreness but he is mending very well, we are hopeful he will be available for Saturday, if not for Nottingham Forest.

LUTV subscribers can see the full interview with Garry Monk below: