Leeds United head coach Thomas Christiansen spoke to the media ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship clash with Barnsley.

The Whites head to Oakwell and will be backed by 4,500 Leeds supporters, looking to get back to winning ways after Wednesday’s defeat at Wolves.

United’s head coach admitted preparation has been far from ideal, but his players are up for the challenge. 

“When you play late on a Wednesday, arriving home at 2:00am and have an early game on a Saturday it is difficult to recover completely,” said Christiansen.

“This is the way the schedule is, it is not in our favour, but we have to go out, make a good game and do what we need, to get the three points.

“Saturday is a derby game which will be very difficult, Barnsley will try to put us under pressure and go into the tackles strongly and we have to respond in the same way.

“A lot of the players know what it will be like at Barnsley and have played there before, so we know what to expect going there.

“It will be a challenge, but we will give our best, both sides want to come back from defeats in midweek.

I have seen a change in the mentality and the confidence the team has from the Middlesbrough win and that is something we can really build on.

Christiansen also gave an update on injuries, with Stuart Dallas and Pierre-Michel Lasogga ruled out of the away trip.

He said: “Stuart after the Wolves game felt a problem with the injury he picked up with his international team and we feel it is best to leave him out to be ready for the next game.

“Pierre-Michel Lasogga was sick, but he has picked up a knock in training and we hope he will be back for the Aston Villa match.”

You can see Thomas Christiansen’s full press conference below: