West Brom and Birmingham City handed boost as key Leeds player to miss out on Championship fixtures

West Brom and Birmingham City fans can take a modicum of encouragement into their upcoming respective games against Leeds United as the Whites' first-choice goalkeeper, Illan Meslier, is set to miss out after being sent off in their 2-1 defeat against Preston North End on Boxing Day.

Amidst a disagreement on the pitch, Meslier extended his right arm - catching Preston's Milutin Osmajic in the face with his palm. As a result, the referee had no choice but to send off the Frenchman.

Leeds boss Daniel Farke was understandably disappointed with the red card, saying that 'I don't think it should be a red card'. As such, the Whites could appeal the decision and if they can force this through quickly enough, Meslier may be available for selection for the upcoming games - though it seems that the game against West Brom will come too soon for this to be put into effect.

What has been said following Illan Meslier's red card?

On the red card given to Meslier, Farke said: "If I'm honest, I hate this behaviour and also this diving and rolling around and trying to provoke red cards but to be honest, I also can't complain about this because sometimes this is what a team does who's searching for their momentum, plays against a team that was praised so much in the last game against Ipswich, trying to provoke something. This is what he did.

"For me, it's more like to concentrate on what we could have done better and yes, you can argue we gave the referee a decision to make with this little movement of Illan and he should react smart in this situation, although I don't think it should be a red card."

Meanwhile, Preston head coach Ryan Lowe said: "I don't really care to be honest. If it was me I'd say it was a bit soft, but you raise your hands. I tried to watch it back on the iPad. Ali [McCann] said his foot was there but he sort of made a meal of the dive. I'm not really bothered, we went on and won."