Leicester City take on Manchester United in the Premier League on Tuesday and before the game, manager Brendan Rodgers is having a few selection issues.
The first big problem for the Leicester boss is with the injury to Jonny Evans which he picked up during the warm-up before the Newcastle United game. And as things stand, the centre-back still remains a doubt to be named in the starting line-up at Old Trafford.
“We’ve been managing him over the last couple of weeks and he’s come through really well,” the Foxes boss said in his pre-match press conference.
“He was in a lot of pain [last Thursday] and woke up [on Friday] feeling better. In the warm-up, just as he was coming in before kick-off, he felt discomfort.
“Jonny’s a real warrior so you know if he’s not able to at least give it a go, then he’s really suffering. We’ll just have to see how he is and what his availability is going forward.”
If Jonny Evans is not available then it will indeed be a big blow for the Leicester City boss since the defender has been a stellar figure at the back this season. If Evans is unavailable then Amartey or Castagne is likely to come into the side.
Brendan Rodgers has also hinted that while Ricardo Pereira and James Maddison are going to start against Manchester United but these two might not be ready to play the full 90 minutes.
“He’s[Maddison] not 100 per cent,” he added. “That’s something I’ve said before, he’s not up to game speed. The problem is you’ve got to give him the minutes and time to try and get him there, likewise with Ricky (Ricardo). These are things to consider coming into the last important games now.
“He’ll have a big part to play for us. Of course, we need to ensure we have a player who will give us that fight within the game. We’ll assess that going into Tuesday. It’s always a balance. I go back to this time last year. The one player we were crying out for was James Maddison.
“His quality, his ability to take the ball and create, I don’t lose sight of that. We’ll always pick what we think is the best team to win the game. He’s had another period on the field [on Friday]. It didn’t help us get the result, but it’ll help us going forward.”
Just a few days after Leicester City take on Manchester United, they head to Wembley to face Chelsea in the FA Cup final. And the manager will not be ready to take any sort of unnecessary risks with players such as James Maddison ahead of such a crucial game so we think the playmaker will be taken off with 25-30 odd minutes to go on Tuesday night.
