SICKNESS BUG MAY RULE OUT DUO
MADDISON AND BARNES COULD MISS TONIGHT’S EUROPA LEAGUE CLASH AT THE
LEICESTER City have been hit by a sickness bug that could stop Harvey Barnes and James Maddison featuring in their must-win Europa League clash against Spartak Moscow tonight, writes Jordan Blackwell.
City host the Russian side needing a victory to jump into the top two of Group C and boost their chances of qualification to the knockout stage.
But they may have to get the three points without their two England internationals, who, along with James Justin, have been struggling with illness of late.
The positive news is that they should be available to play against Leeds, even if they cannot run out tonight.
“We have a few players who have had the sickness bug that has been going around,” manager Brendan Rodgers, below, told his pre-match press conference yesterday.
“We’ll have to assess that, and see where they’re at, but if they’re not available, I would expect them to be okay for the weekend.
“It’s Harvey Barnes, James Maddison and James Justin, who is back training with the group but wouldn’t have been available.
“But we’ve had those three guys unfortunately down for a few days.
“They’re coming around now, whether they’re going to be at their best level for tomorrow, we shall wait and see, but if not they will be back ready for the weekend.”
They are not the only doubts for the game, with Ricardo Pereira and Wilfred Ndidi potentially, but not definitely, back from injury.
Ricardo missed the weekend’s defeat to Arsenal after picking up a problem in the Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out win over Brighton, while Ndidi was back on the bench for the game against the Gunners after more than a month out with a hamstring issue.
“Ricardo has joined back in,” Rodgers said. “He’s been outside. If he’s not ready for tomorrow, he should be available for the weekend.
“Whether (Ndidi’s) going to be available or not for Thursday to put him in, we’ll see. Certainly he should be ready by the weekend.
“He’s trained really well, but we just have to be careful and mindful of the injury he’s coming back from.”
Ayoze Perez will definitely be available after overcoming the bug that has kept him out of the past two games, but Marc Albrighton remains sidelined by the studs-up challenge he fell victim to in the last clash with Spartak.
Rodgers added: “Ayo is in the squad. He’s fine after the bug he had.
“Marc is still a few weeks away, he’s out on the grass with the medical and rehabilitation team which is good, but he’s
still a few weeks away.”