Ndidi Set To Miss Man City Showdown, Says Rodgers
- Brendan Rodgers delivers an injury update ahead of Leicester City's clash with Manchester City
- Pep Guardiola's champions visit King Power Stadium on Saturday evening (5:30pm kick-off)
- The Northern Irishman discusses Wilfred Ndidi, who will miss the clash with a knee issue
- Rodgers also elaborated on Papy Mendy, Matty James and new loan signing Ryan Bennett
The Nigeria midfielder has been absent for City's last two top-flight fixtures, draws with Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers, due to a knee issue.
While the Foxes have no fresh injury concerns for the visit of Pep Guardiola's men, Rodgers confirmed on Thursday that Ndidi is not yet ready to return to first team action.
"Wilf won’t be available for the weekend," the Northern Irishman said. "He’s still in a process to try and get fit so we’ll see how he is next week. I’m not sure.
"He's doing work inside, but you then have to progress that to outside and then when he can join the team. It's another intensity to join the team and then to play.
"We just want to make sure he's right because he's such an important player for us. It's about the long term too. There’s no timeline on it. We’ll see how he progresses."
Following Choudhury's dismissal at Wolves, for second bookable offence, and Mendy's knee injury, Rodgers also discussed the central midfield area for Saturday's fixture.
"They're three excellent players and obviously we have to find a strategy and a plan to come up with a game that can see us try and get three points," he added.
"Wilf has obviously played more, but all three give you that defensive solidity which is important for any team. They're not available so we can't worry about that."
One consideration for Rodgers, meanwhile, is midfielder Matty James, who has been working to recover from an Achilles injury throughout the 2019/20 campaign.
"We'll have a look at that," City's manager revealed. "He's certainly training very well. His conditioning has been great. You have to be at that optimum level and he's at a very good level.
"He's got himself physically in a very good place, he's training very, very well, he's been playing for the Under-23s in games, so it's certainly something for us to consider."
New loan signing Ryan Bennett, on the other hand, is now available to play following last Friday's 0-0 draw at parent club, Wolves, and Rodgers says the defender could be key.
"He’s available for selection," he continued. "That’s great for him. He’s settled in really, really well. We were delighted to get Ryan. He’s going to be an important player for us.
"Even if he doesn’t play, his mentality is going to be important for the squad at the training ground. We’ll have a look at that over the next 24 hours."