Leicester blow as Jamie Vardy suffers another injury setback and will miss Arsenal clash and Wesley Fofana has Covid
BRENDAN RODGERS’ Leicester City has been rocked by a double injury blow on the eve of Thursday night’s Conference League last 16 clash with Rennes.
The Foxes have been cruelly robbed of talismanic striker Jamie Vardy and comeback defender Wesley Fofana in the latest injury crisis to blight Rodgers’ season.
Fofana, who signed a new five-year-deal earlier this week, had been pencilled in to make a dramatic comeback against former French foes Rennes for his first appearance of the season after breaking his leg in a pre-season friendly against Sevilla.
However Rodgers revealed the 20-year-old centre-back has been struck down with Covid and has had to put his comeback on ice.
Vardy has ruled out of BOTH legs of the last 16-tie after suffering a knee injury against Leeds on Saturday and will be out for ‘weeks’.
The 36-year-old striker was set to spearhead Rodgers’ attack after recovering from a lengthy hamstring injury, having scored in his comeback match against Burnley and performing well against Leeds.
A grim-faced Rodgers revealed: “It’s very frustrating for Jamie and us, and him in particular after working so hard to get back.
“You saw the difference he made coming into the team and you’ll always miss that level of player.
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“It’s just unfortunate but hopefully he will get back and get fit again, we’ll see how he is in the next few weeks.”
Vardy will also miss Sunday’s trip to face Arsenal at the Emirates, however Rodgers is hopeful Fofana could recover in time to finally get his season up and running against the Gunners.
Asked if Fofana would start against Rennes, Rodgers replied: “No, because he’s picked up Covid.
“It’s been our season right the way through with injuries and unfortunate circumstances.
“He’s not going to be able to feature tomorrow but we are hoping he will be ready for the weekend now.”
While Rodgers will be deprived of his iconic striker Vardy, Rennes boss Bruno Genesio has the luxury of two prolific goalscorers to call on.
Only Paris Saint-Germain boast a better strike tally than Rennes’ 53 goals in Ligue 1 this season and they are one of only two teams in the Conference League who started the season in the Champions League.
Rodgers, who will welcome back James Justin, warned: “Rennes are a very attacking team and Gaetan Laborde is a striker who scores a lot of goals and also the winger Martin Terrier also scores too.
“They have scored 14 goals and 13 goals respectively and so they are obviously going to provide a threat for a dangerous side which poses a scoring threat all over the field.
“We will have to pay special attention to those two and clearly it’s a game where we have to defend well.
“We couldn’t have landed a much harder tie, but at this stage of the competition you expect to face really good opposition.”
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