Leeds United host Sheffield United at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon as the Premier League returns following the international break.
The Blades are managed by former Leeds boss Paul Heckinngbottom following the departure of Chris Wilder last month.
Heckingbottom is in temporary charge until the end of the season and faces a difficult task, with Sheffield United bottom of the Premier League and 13 points from safety.
Things are complicated further by the club’s injury list, with several players unavailable for Saturday’s 3pm kick-off.
Influential midfielder Sander Berge has been out since December with a hamstring injury, and although he trained with Norway over the international break, he is not ready to face Leeds this weekend.
“Sander is still a couple of weeks away,” Heckingbottom said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday morning.
“[He’s] out on the grass and building up his speed and once the guys are happy with him we can integrate him back into the squad.”
Centre-back John Egan came off at the end of the Blades’ 3-0 defeat by West Ham on February 15 and has been missing ever since with a dislocated toe.
Meanwhile, Enda Stevens was ruled out of the Republic of Ireland's friendly against Qatar on Tuesday with an unspecified knock after playing 90 minutes in both of his country’s World Cup qualifiers last week.
Heckingbottom had more positive news about the defensive duo, who could both return to feature this weekend.
“Egan is hopefully back in training and we can build him up to 90 minutes and be available to play,” he said.
“Enda came back from the Republic of Ireland and should be fit to train.”
Centre-back Jack O’Connell remains sidelined with a long-term knee injury and the Blades will also be without experienced striker Billy Sharp and defender Chris Basham.
“Sharp was quite a significant muscle injury will be a few weeks,” Heckingbottom added.
“Bash was a strange one and was playing right up until the Chelsea game [on March 21] but we've still not been able to get him on the training ground.”
Leeds will be looking to do the double over their rivals, having won the reverse fixture 1-0 on September 27 thanks to a late goal from Patrick Bamford.
The Whites will assess their squad once all the players have returned from international duty.
Kalvin Phillips started all three of England’s World Cup qualifiers, against San Marino, Albania and Poland, while Gianni Alioski played in North Macedonia’s historic 2-1 win over Germany on Wednesday evening.
Tyler Roberts is already back with Leeds, having been sent home from Wales duty from breaching protocol, Mateusz Klich missed Poland’s last two games due to Covid-19, while Diego Llorente (Spain), Illan Meslier (France Under-21s) and Stuart Dallas (Northern Ireland) will return before Saturday.
