Rodgers: Castagne & Amartey In Contention For Spurs Trip
- Brendan Rodgers provides a fitness update on his Leicester City squad
- The Foxes travel to north London to tackle Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (2:15pm kick-off)
- Timothy Castagne and Daniel Amartey are close to returns from hamstring injuries
- Jonny Evans is also available for selection after a one-game suspension, Rodgers adds
The Foxes travel to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (2:15pm kick-off) just a point adrift of José Mourinho's men going into each sides' final Premier League outings before Christmas.
Speaking on Friday afternoon, Rodgers delivered some positive news ahead of that showdown in London, with both Castagne and Amartey close to recovering from hamstring complaints.
"Everyone (from Wednesday) is available," the Northern Irishman confirmed. "We will hopefully have Timothy Castagne as well, which will be great news to get him back.
"Apart from that, the squad will be the same. Daniel Amartey may well be available as well, so both those players [returning] will be great news for us.
"We’ll look over that at over the next 24 hours. He’s (Castagne) come through training very well. He was close for the Everton game, but we felt it would be best to keep him out and get him ready for the weekend.
"If you’ve seen him play, you see the penetration he gives the team, his running ability off the ball, he gets in behind. He’s got great energy in the game, a great enthusiasm.
"He’s also a very good defender, he gives us a good profile in terms of set pieces and defending, so if he’s available, he’ll be a huge plus for us.
"Certainly, defending, he really gets in contention with people. He works very hard at stopping crosses and, obviously from a set piece perspective, he's a good size so he can defend the box well.
"On the attacking side as well, he's so good at penetrating with and without the ball. His running ability, you've seen that earlier this season - he wants to get up there and score goals.
"Having him back and available definitely improves our squad."
Jonny Evans will also return after serving a one-game suspension during Wednesday's defeat by Everton at King Power Stadium and Rodgers outlined his countryman's importance for the Foxes.
"Jonny’s instrumental in how we work," the 47-year-old added, highlighting how midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, who also recently came back from an adductor issue, could be in line to revert back to a central role.
"Wilf Ndidi dropped into the backline and was outstanding during the week, but obviously when you have to move him, you’re taking a top player out of the midfield sector, so Jonny coming back in will be very important for us.
"That’s what we’ve done in the other games that he’s played. We’re building him up towards that 90 minutes. He’s such a pivotal player for us, so we’re just trying to manage it.
"Whether you’ve been injured or not, it’s a really tough schedule. As you’ve seen with our squad, we’ve tried to use the whole squad to try and have that intensity.
"Him, in particular, coming back, we're trying to ensure we do everything we can to protect him."
All times GMT.