Ampadu sat out two months with a knee injury earlier this season but in recent weeks has returned to play an important role in United’s festive schedule.
Leeds first defeated Oxford United 4-0 at Elland Road, in which the club captain made his return at centre-back, before a 2-0 win over Stoke City on Boxing Day, with Ampadu back in midfield. Following the hard-fought 1-0 win over Derby County at Pride Park, the skipper admitted there was still some ‘rust’ but he is feeling close to getting back to his best.
“I’m okay. I give thanks to the physios and the staff for the rehab that I did. I feel quite good out there, but I know there’s still a little bit of rust, so I’m just trying to shake that off.”
“Hopefully sooner rather than later,” Ampadu said, on when he believes he’ll be back to 100 per cent. “I’m working hard every day to make sure that I can be in tip-top condition.”
The Wales international has completed 90 minutes in three successive matches over a span of eight days with fixtures against Blackburn Rovers and Hull City still to come on January 1 and January 4, respectively.
Despite the tasking schedule, and Ampadu’s own admission that he still has some rust to shake off, the captain was one of Leeds’ best performers against the Rams, completing 20 passes into the final third, 12 more than the player with the next highest figure. In addition, Ampadu made six ball recoveries, won four fouls and five of his seven aerial duels as Leeds kept a third straight clean sheet.
“It felt like a battle. We’re always confident whilst the game’s going on that we’re going to create chances and that we’re hopefully going to put the ball in the back of the net and luckily we showed very good composure and Brenden slotted it away very nicely,” Ampadu added.
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