Leicester injuries: Justin, Vardy, Fofana, Pereira, Evans and Castagne
By Will Kennedy
Other defensive injuries
One of the positives of Sunday’s game, was the flashes of brilliance from Ricardo Pereira as he continues his return from a few years dogged by injury. The beginning of the season saw two fantastic assists from the Portuguese right-back, before he began to fall back in his development. However, Ricardo’s goal against West Ham, his first since netting against them in 2020, will be a major boost for him and his confidence.
Meanwhile, Rodgers has said that Timothy Castagne is ‘still a bit of time away’ as he recovers from surgery for a thigh bleed, something that will force him out of the squad until at least March; the Belgian has been unavailable since the start of the year.
Jonny Evans is also unavailable for the foreseeable future, with Northern Irish veteran expected to be out of contention until April, whilst Ryan Bertrand has already been confirmed to be out for the season.
Hot. How many transfers Foxes plan to make in summer. light
Jamie Vardy
Finally, the other huge absentee on Thursday will be Jamie Vardy. The Sheffield-born striker suffered a hamstring injury in the 1-0 win over Liverpool in December and hasn’t played since. Rodgers suggested Vardy ‘is still a few weeks away’; the No.9 is expected back in the squad during March. However, Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka are filling in up front and are performing well. Whilst Leicester are missing their top scorer, his absence isn’t the crisis that it would have been last year.