Man United v Leicester: Brendan Rodgers drops selection hint

Manchester United entertain Leicester City in a game with particularly huge implications for both Premier League sides chasing Champions League entry.

A supremely challenging trio of outings awaits the Foxes in the next short while: a trip to Old Trafford to face a currently superb Manchester United, followed by what are becoming probably must-win matches against Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Oh, and in between those contests is a humongous game versus the Blues in the FA Cup final. Wow. That fixture hasn’t even sunk in yet: the gravity of Leicester playing for the trophy of the most prestigious domestic tournament is something us Blue Army faithful have wanted for years. Many of the support whom are respectively older than me have been waiting since the 1960s for a chance again.

I hope Brendan Rodgers has his thinking cap on ready to outwit Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Thomas Tuchel and Ryan Mason; and that his team do his preparation, judgment and tactics more justice than they did in their generally pitiful efforts against Newcastle United at King Power Stadium in the 4-2 loss!

Brendan Rodgers’ hint about two Leicester City stars

Basically, Foxes of Leicester noticed while Rodgers spoke of James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira, that the Northern Irishman gave away an implication over the Englishman’s and Portuguese’s involvement in upcoming clashes.

Essentially the boss tried to elucidate over the suitability of the pair to play major roles in the business end of the season, due to fitness and performance concerns.

First of all, Rodgers told of how Maddison has not yet reverted to usual “game speed”, understandably. Secondly, Ricardo is pretty much in the same boat as his teammate, with his return coming after a longer term problem. The former Porto man was, however, reinstated for the Newcastle game.

Despite a poor defeat to the Magpies, FoL expects Ricardo to start the Man Utd match along with Maddison. Mainly because Rodgers stated this:

"“The problem [selection dilemma] is you’ve got to give them the minutes and game-time to try to get there [full fitness], likewise with Ricky.“…I go back to this time last year and the one player we were crying out for was James Maddison, his quality and his ability to take the ball and create. I don’t lose sight of that.“…We’ll always pick what we think is the best team to win the game.”– Brendan Rodgers, via Leicester Mercury"