The 12 Leicester players unavailable due to injury, covid or AFCON

Leicester City are set to be without as many as 12 players for their FA Cup tie against Watford on January 8. With long-term absentees taking more time to return, this has been compounded by further injuries and absences that quite literally hamstring Brendan Rodgers’ team selection.

Although Leicester have another week before playing due to a fixture postponement, Brendan Rodgers may have to face Watford in the FA Cup with just one fit senior centre-back and no recognised strikers.

Long-term absentees

The two main long-term absentees, Wesley Fofana and James Justin remain unavailable for selection. Wesley Fofana’s return has been steadily pushed back to February despite him dropping easter eggs that he would return early.

Meanwhile, having just overcome an injury setback, Justin needs to gain match fitness through playing with the under 23’s. Due to COVID-19 postponements, these opportunities have also been pushed back meaning his return has had to be put off for another few weeks.

AFCON

To compound the current injury crisis, Leicester City are set to lose four more players to the biennial African Cup of Nations. These four players are Nampalys Mendy (Senegal), Daniel Amartey (Ghana), Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfried Ndidi (Both Nigeria). Depending on how far their respective nations progress, they could return anytime between the 3rd week of January to the 2nd week of February.

Other injuries

If you are sick and tired of reading about injuries you may want to stop here, for the list lengthens greatly. Six other absentees have injuries of varying lengths. Harvey Barnes is now back in training and should be fit. Ryan Bertrand is expected to be injured for one more week, being the closest player to returning.

Next, a quartet of players are three to four weeks away from being fit again. These comprise Jamie Vardy, Patson Daka, Caglar Soyuncu and Jonny Evans. Of all injuries, these are most disruptive due to Leicester City’s lack of available cover. Even so, Rodgers and his team must not rush them back, to avoid further risks. Finally, Ricardo Pereira remains absent for  6-8 weeks after fracturing his Fibula.

Some positive news for Leicester City

There is one grain of positivity. James Maddison seems to have recovered from the knock he received against Liverpool, allaying any potential fears of another disruptive injury. Otherwise, for LCFC and Rodgers, it is a job of ‘make do and mend’ and hopefully avoid further injury.