Youri Tielemans Leicester City
STAR midfielder Youri Tielemans will not be ready in time to face Saints tomorrow evening, Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed. The Belgian, who scored the winning goal in last season’s FA Cup final, is currently out of action with a calf injury. And the midweek trip to St Mary’s is set to come too soon for Tielemans to make his return.
Brendan Rodgers said: “We’ll see where Youri is at the back end of the week. He’s progressing really well. I saw him out on the pitch with the rehabilitation team and he looked very strong. We’ll assess that as the week goes through, but it’s probably going to be more towards the end of the week.”
Rodgers expects to have the same squad available at Saints as he did for Sunday’s 4-2 win over Watford. Quizzed on the 34-year-old’s longevity to keep producing goals in the top flight,
Brendan Rodgers said: “There’s no sign that it’s stopping soon either because he is looking after himself. It’s all him. He clearly has the talent, he has the will. All we’ve tried to do is just manage him to maximise what we can get out of him. He’s a brilliant professional and he’s trying to ensure his career goes on for as long as it can possibly can. He has everything here to help with his recovery and recuperation after games. He has also invested a lot of money into some of these items he has at home to help him recover as well. His running against Watford, his intensity, that’s when he’s at his best. Players with that pace, sometimes it will disappear with age and that’s life. But his sharpness and finishing will always be there and, certainly at the moment, you see the cleverness of his runs. It’s great for me and I’m very lucky to have him, that personality in my team. Hopefully that continues for a long time yet.”
Vardy scored a hat-trick in Saints’ infamous 9-0 humiliation against Leicester two years ago, but has fired a blank in the four meetings of the two clubs since.
