Rodgers Provides Fitness Update On Castagne, Evans & Ricardo

- Leicester City travel to Leeds United in the Premier League on Monday (8pm kick-off)
- Brendan Rodgers has confirmed Timothy Castagne (hamstring) will be out for a few weeks
- Jonny Evans will be monitored after picking up a back complaint in last week's win at Arsenal
- Rodgers has praised his squad for their resilience, winning three games, despite several absentees

Belgium full-back Castagne did not travel with the Foxes squad to Greece ahead of their 2-1 victory over AEK Athens in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.

Another absentee for City in the Greek capital was centre-back Jonny Evans, who Rodgers says suffered a minor back issue in last Sunday's 1-0 Premier League success at Arsenal.

However, while Castagne is set to possibly miss Leicester's upcoming clashes with Leeds United, S.C Braga and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Evans' condition is thought to be less worrisome. 

"Timothy has tweaked his hamstring, hence the reason he didn’t travel, so he’ll probably be out until after the international break, which is a shame," Rodgers confirmed this week.

"It’s not too bad, but it’ll keep him out for this next period. Jonny landed really awkwardly against Arsenal and he obviously played on and the back stiffened up a little bit.

"We wanted to give him every chance to play against AEK and he trained in the warm-up the night before, but he had to go in as he was suffering with his back.

"That meant we had to rejig it and Fuchsy (Christian Fuchs), who was planned not to play, we gave him 45 minutes, so we didn’t risk him any longer.

"The plan was for him to play and then for Luke [Thomas] to come in for the second period.

"The guys are having to cope with all the injuries and all the games and still churning out great results.

"I’m so happy for them, it was a great win, considering all the circumstances, all the players that we’ve got missing, but they’re still producing and doing very well."

Full-back Ricardo, meanwhile, did travel with the Foxes to Greece as part of his rehabilitation from an ACL injury sustained back in March. 

The Portugal international is continuing to work towards a return to first team action for Leicester and could be in contention at some stage over the coming months, Rodgers says.  

"We took Ricardo out to continue with his rehabilitation," the Northern Irishman confirmed. "He’s obviously getting close, but he won’t feature before the international break.

"But we’re hopeful that, after that, he will be available to take part, so it’s great news for us. He’s progressed really well.

"He’s worked ever so hard and is now starting to join in with parts of the sessions with the outfield players and we just wanted to keep that rehab going so we took him out with us."

City's resilience, despite having several players out injured, including Wilfred Ndidi (adductor) and Çağlar Söyüncü (adductor), was another source of pride for Rodgers.

With several first team players absent, the Foxes have nonetheless won their last three games in a row, ahead of Monday's visit to Elland Road to face Leeds (8pm kick-off).

"I think it really shows the spirit and the unity of the team," Rodgers said. "That really came to the fore. It’s very difficult to play fluent football on a pitch which was not conducive for good football.

"We showed moments of that, but it was a European game where you’ve conceded, and they have the momentum for large periods of the second half.

"With so many players missing, to show that level of concentration and work ethic and desire to win a game of football, that bodes well.

"That’s the constant growth of this team. We’ve got lots of young players playing in this competition for the first time, understanding how to win.

"Especially in a game where you can’t play attractive football, you have to be able to see the game out and I thought it was a really professional win at a tough place to go.

"They won through and produced a really good three points."

All times GMT.