Ballard does not feature in the squad at the Stadium of Light, with his absence forcing Regis Le Bris into another defensive tweak.
The centre-half suffered a kick to the ankle in the goalless draw with Brighton and has not recovered in time to be considered for today’s game.
Dennis Cirkin comes into the Black Cats‘ starting XI and is set to play in his usual position of left-back as he makes his first senior appearance of the season.
That means Trai Hume switches back across to right-back, having played on the left of the back four at Brighton, with Nordi Mukiele moving infield to partner Omar Alderete at centre-half.
The rest of the Sunderland side is unchanged from the draw at the Amex Stadium eight days ago, with Lutsharel Geertruida once again expected to play in midfield alongside Granit Xhaka and Chris Rigg.
Simon Adingra and Enzo Le Fee get the nod again in the wide positions, with Brian Brobbey once again preferred to Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda in attack.
Leeds boss Daniel Farke has named an unchanged line-up from the team that beat Crystal Palace 4-1 before Christmas.
SUNDERLAND (4-3-3): Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Cirkin; Xhaka, Geertruida, Rigg; Adingra, Brobbey, Le Fee.
Subs: Patterson, Neil, Mayenda, Isidor, Mundle, Hjelde, H Jones, J Jones, Tutierov.
LEEDS (3-5-2): Perri; Rodon, Bijol, Struijk; Bogle, Aaronson, Ampadu, Stach, Gudmundsson; Calvert-Lewin, Okafor.
Subs: Darlow, Bornauw, Justin, Gruev, Tanaka, Piroe, Nmecha, Harrison, Gnonto.