Rodgers Provides Update On Barnes & Evans' Fitness Issues
- Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers provided a further fitness update on Monday
- The Foxes will be without Harvey Barnes (knee) for Wednesday's trip to Burnley, while Jonny Evans is a doubt as he awaits scan results
- They join another six first team stars currently recovering from injury concerns for City
- News was also provided on Jamie Vardy and James Maddison, the latter on whom remains out
Following Sunday's defeat by Arsenal, Barnes (knee) and Evans (calf) have now been added to an injury list which also includes James Justin (ACL), James Maddison (hip), Ayoze Pérez (knee), Wesley Fofana (hamstring), Dennis Praet (hamstring) and Wes Morgan (back).
The Foxes are next in action on Wednesday evening, three days following their last Premier League outing, in a clash with Sean Dyche's Burnley outfit at Turf Moor (6pm kick-off).
On Barnes, Rodgers told the media on Monday: "We’re hopeful that he’ll be going in for surgery tomorrow. Part of the patellar is separated in the knee, that’s come away, so it’s just a repair job there and hopefully he can be back in six weeks.
"It is much better news that what we thought it could have been, especially after JJ’s (James Justin) injury, so that’s where we’re at with him.
"He’ll hopefully be close to playing by that stage. It’s just a clean up on the knee and working his way back and then hopefully it’ll be around about six weeks.
"It’s just unfortunate. It’s a unique season and we’ve contended with it right the way through the season. However, it’s a good opportunity for a number of other players to play and that’s how we’ve looked to deal with it right the way through the season."
Evans, on the other hand, will have a scan later on Monday to determine the next steps for Leicester's medical team to take with managing a calf issue which returned for the Northern Ireland international on Sunday.
"He’ll have a scan later today just to see where that’s at," the 48-year-old added. "Jonny’s from the old school, he’ll play through anything and everything to help out his team.
"It’s been an issue for a few weeks and, early in the game yesterday, it was aggravating it up to a point where, later on, he couldn’t continue. We’ll get a scan done on that today and see where he’s at."
Jamie Vardy, on the other hand, had a brief issue at King Power Stadium against the Gunners, but his manager says it was nothing out of the ordinary for City's No.9.
"He just had a sharp reaction, but nothing more than that," he explained. "You could see he went on and he played in the game.
"Like all players, the day after the game, you’re a little bit stuff, and on the second day, you’re still in that recovery phase, but I don’t think there’s anything more than just a bit of soreness."
Rodgers also provided an update on Maddison's return from a hip issue, before discussing the Club's wider injury issues, which have become more frequent over recent weeks.
"Nothing more (on Maddison's fitness)," Rodgers continued. "He’s feeling better, so we’re hopeful that later on in the week, he can get some movement out on the grass.
"You have to stay neutral in all. Of course, we don’t have the depth that a lot of other squads have. We saw that in the Arsenal game yesterday, the players they could put on the bench and still be very strong. It’s something for us to build through each season.
"We’re a stronger squad in our depth than when I first came in. Still, you can see with injuries that it can effect us, but we can’t go on too much about it.
"It’s just unfortunate. We’ve got a lot of talent that is out, but we’ll always look to find a way to get a result. That’s what we’ll look to do. For us, it’s the process, going back to how we work, and there’s another opportunity there for players to come in and play."