Injury blow for United’s rivals for top four finish
MANCHESTER United’s top-four rivals Leicester City suffered a major injury blow after Harvey Barnes was stretchered off during their 3-1 defeat Arsenal on Sunday.
The Foxes entered the match with the chance to move above Manchester United into second in the table, cutting Manchester City’s lead at the top to 10 points.
Midway through the second half, Barnes pulled up as he felt an issue in his knee despite no contact with an Arsenal player and he immediately looked severely hurt, with the stretcher introduced to lift him off the pitch.
After the match, Rodgers confirmed that Barnes is set to undergo surgery on his knee and will face an extended period on the sidelines.
“It’s not good news. It looks like he needs an operation,” the Leicester boss said.
“We’re probably talking about him being out a minimum six weeks. A bit of the bone in his knee has come off.
“It’s a bad one for him – it’s a huge blow. He had a clash of knees a few weeks ago so it’s been irritating him. He’s had niggles with it.
“The only consolation is that he’s not going to be out as long as it looked like. But it’s such a blow because Harvey has been outstanding all season, Hopefully he can get back for some part of the season.”
Leicester are already dealing with a slew of other injury issues. James Justin is set to miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear, while James Maddison is dealing with a hip problem.