WE’LL TURF OUT WOOD

CARABAO CUP Stu plans old pals axe

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STUART DALLAS says Chris Wood was wrong to ditch Leeds for Burnley – and aims to prove it by dumping his old team-mate out of the Carabao Cup tonight.

New Zealand striker Wood hit 30 goals for Leeds last season but quit Elland Road in a £15m transfer deadline day switch.

Now winger Dallas and his Championship table-toppers travel across the Pennines to take on Wood’s new side intent on a Turf Moor triumph to embarrass the Kiwi and his fellow Leeds deserter Charlie Taylor.

Left-back Taylor hooked up with Burnley for £5m in compensation after snubbing a new contract and refusing to play for Leeds last term.

Dallas, 26, pledged his future to Leeds by penning a three-year deal in the summer and reckons Wood should have stayed too.

The Northern Ireland star said “I don’t mean to be disrespectful but there is more to life for us than Chris Wood.

“He has gone to the Premier League and Charlie decided to take the same route. That’s their choice and good luck to them.

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“But we need to go to their place now and show them that they made the wrong decision by leaving us.

“It will be good to come up against them and it’ll give us extra motivation to turn them over – although they might be thinking the same!”

Ironically Dallas, a £1.9m purchase from Brentford two years ago, might have joined Wood and Taylor in heading through the Elland Road exit door after struggling for game time under former chief Garry Monk.

He added: “I was probably coming into this season fighting for my career here. I needed to do something and, thankfully, I got a new contract.

“Now I feel I am back on form and full of confidence again. I want to play every minute of every game.”

Boss Thomas Christiansen sends his side into this third round tie demanding a return to the form that saw them go unbeaten in their opening nine league and cup games before last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Millwall.

The Dane, 44, said: “All games should be taken seriously, there are no small games. We lost our identity at Millwall.”