Brendan Rodgers
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers is hoping that striker Jamie Vardy’s injury is “not too serious” after confirming it is “not his hamstring”. Vardy, the current top scorer in the Premier League with 17 goals, was substituted before half-time in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over West Ham.
Brendan Rodgers said “Hopefully over the next couple of days it will ease off. Jamie Vardy is a real talisman for the team but if we are going to have success it is about the team. He hasn’t played for us in a number of games and the team has still played well but of course we want him fit and well. He is such a good player and we hope it is not too serious.”
Vardy has contributed to 34% of Leicester’s league goals this season and has started all but two of their 24 matches. Recent injuries to Tottenham’s Harry Kane, Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham have led to speculation over an England return for 32-year-old Vardy.
The Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers left defender Chilwell and midfielder Choudhury out of the squad for Sunday’s loss at Burnley as a disciplinary punishment. Leicester City boss now believes Ben Chilwell and Hamza Choudhury have learned their lesson after the pair missed a training session last week.
Brendan Rodgers said: “It’s something that happens at every club, there are misdemeanors. It’s a very important stage of the season for us and our preparation for games, and the two players missed a very important session for us. It was dealt with internally. They’re young players, and young players make mistakes. If you want to compete at that very top level, that mindset is so important, in terms of your mentality, your preparation. They’ve learned their lesson, they are good boys, both of them. We’ve spoken to them, and we move on. They weren’t available for the weekend but now they are.”
The pair were also notable omissions from Rodgers’ squad for the Premier League clash against the Hammers at the King Power. But Rodgers has revealed that the reason to leave the pair out was simply tactically and that they will both return at the weekend.
Brendan Rodgers suggested earlier this month Wifred Ndidi would be sidelined for up to six weeks following the operation to remove a piece of floating bone from the meniscus. But less than two weeks after the surgery, Ndidi could potentially face West Ham in Wednesday night’s Premier League clash at the King Power Stadium.
Brendan Rodgers said. “I spoke to Dave (Rennie, head physio) and I think the other one he had was Robbie Savage when he was here. He had a similar sort of injury and came back and played within a very, very short period of time. The only other one I can remember was Luis Suarez who had a similar injury during the 2014 World Cup. He came back after the group games after virtually a week. He’d gone away with Uruguay and thought he was out. So it’s all about the individual, genetics more than anything, and Wilf is just a machine. The day after the operation he was on the move. I’ve seen pictures of him then and he’s starting to jog. Listen, if we were playing in an FA Cup final a few days ago he could probably have been playing in it, but we wanted to make sure the knee’s clean. He’s been running, he’s been tackling, he’s been aggressive.There will have been other players who unfortunately, genetically, wouldn’t have got through it and had other issues. It’s absolutely brilliant news for us because he’s a colossal player. He gives a lot of the talent in the team that chance to express themselves because of the ground he covers. He’s like having two players.”
In Wildfred Ndidi’s absence, Leicester City were held at home by relegation-threatened Aston Villa in the first leg of a Carabao Cup semi-final before losing back-to-back league games to Southampton and Burnley.
