The six players Jesse Marsch and Leeds United are missing for Brighton clash - boost for Everton and Burnley

Leeds United's mission to avoid the drop became even more difficult with further injuries and suspensions.

Jess March's team were hammered 3-0 by Chelsea at Elland Road on Wednesday and the night became even worse as Dan James was sent-off for a wild lunge on Mateo Kovacic and there were injury scares for Jack Harrison and Raphinha.

Leeds were already without the injured Stuart Dallas, Adam Forshaw, Tyler Roberts, Crysencio Summerville, while Luke Ayling remains suspended following his red at Arsenal.

Striker Patrick Bamford missed the Chelsea match as his struggles with a foot injury continue.

One of the few positives from the 3-0 beating was the return of skipper Liam Cooper following his knee problem.

James’ sending off was another avoidable problem and followed swiftly from Ayling’s red at Arsenal – both men will miss the remainder of the season.

Boss Jesse Marsch said James “felt terrible” about his costly 24th-minute dismissal, but refused to point the finger at his player.

“One thing is for sure, I’m not going to sit here and blame anyone,” the American said.

“We have to be aggressive against the ball. We have to try to win balls and sometimes now we’ve been a little too aggressive in certain situations and that has cost us.

“I think the situation with the table has something to do with it, has everything to do with our situation right now.

“We want to be aggressive, but certainly not cross the line.”

Leeds were dealt yet another injury blow when Harrison hobbled off in the first half and Marsch said the winger would require a scan, while Raphinha was withdrawn as a precaution.

"We will have to scan them in the morning. Raphinha was more precautionary, he was cramping and I wanted to make sure we didn’t push him too much. We’ll see how Jack [Harrison] is," Marsch said.

Brighton, who are ninth in the Premier League table, will be without Enock Mwepu (groin), Jeremy Sarmiento (hamstring) and Jakub Moder (knee).