Tielemans ankle injury suffered in training only a minor knock

RELIEF FOR CITY AFTER BELGIAN STAR’S SCARE

LEICESTER City will have breathed a sigh of relief after it emerged it was only a minor injury that kept Youri Tielemans out of Belgium’s World Cup qualifier against Estonia on Thursday night.

The midfielder was a surprise absentee when the line-up was named.

But it was revealed later in the evening that he had taken a kick to the ankle in a training session the day before the game, which Belgium won 5-2.

Reports from Belgium are that the injury is not too bad, and was just manager Roberto Martinez being cautious ahead of tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier against a trickier Czech Republic, in which

Tielemans is expected to be able to feature. The midfielder travelled to Estonia for Thursday night’s game and was filmed arriving at the stadium with his team-mates, including City full-back Timothy Castagne, and now-Torino loanee Dennis Praet, who were both named among the substitutes.

There they both remained as Belgium breezed to victory, Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku on the scoresheet twice as Belgium kept up their three-point lead at the top of Group E.

As City’s player of the season, an injury to Tielemans would be a significant blow for Brendan Rodgers, who is already negotiating a glut of problems in his back-line.

Tielemans was one of only a few players who managed to avoid any injury problems last season, and he played 51 of the club’s 53 games in all competitions, scoring nine times, including the winner in the FA Cup final.

With Tielemans predicted to be back in action tomorrow, he is one of a number of City players who could be involved for their nations over the weekend.

Today, Kasper Schmeichel and Denmark take on the Faroe Islands in World Cup qualifying, while Caglar Soyuncu is now eligible for Turkey again with their second game of the international break away in Gibraltar, which is not a red-list country.

Tomorrow, Danny Ward could keep goal for Wales as they take on Belarus.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s first-half brace, his 10th and 11th international goals, earned Nigeria a 2-0 win over Liberia in World Cup qualifying last night.

His City team-mate Wilfred Ndidi was also in the side.

Patson Daka was also in action, helping Zambia to a 2-1 victory in Mauritania.

None of the three players will be able to feature in their countries’ next matches as these take place in red-list countries.