Leicester boss gives honest injury update ahead of Palace trip, including Vardy and Daka
Leicester City boss Steve Cooper has confirmed his players have come through the international break unscathed ahead of the Foxes’ trip to Selhurst Park on Saturday.
The newly promoted side have had a tough start to life back at English football’s top table, losing two and drawing one of their opening three games of the new campaign.
Their survival hopes will undoubtedly rely heavily on the long term fitness and availability of their key players, as Cooper attempts to defy widespread predictions of an immediate return to the Championship for the Foxes.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Premier League restart following two weeks of international fixtures, the 44-year-old confirmed that there was no change to his options as he plans to take on Crystal Palace.
He said: “No, the players have come back from international duty.
“Some are still recovering from games, which is normal because of the Tuesday games.
“Some have had some long travel as well. Bobby [De Cordova-Reid] is still not with us because of his schedule, we’ll see tomorrow, but it’s no disadvantage really.
“Every Premier League club will lose a lot of players and they’ll come back in a staggered schedule through the week leading back into the recommencement of the league. We’re no different, we’re just adapting, like we have to, through these weeks.”
There were also questions surrounded Jamie Vardy‘s fitness ahead of the weekend. The Foxes legend, now 37, has started all three of Leicester’s Premier League fixtures so far this term, and Cooper has been honest about the way in which they’ve had to manage the striker’s fitness.
“We try to use the international break wisely with the players staying here,” Cooper admitted.
“Vards trained for a week or so before that injury and then trained once and went into a Premier League start.
“For him we definitely used it to get some training into him and this week while preparing him for being available for the game.
“The training has been good for him and his application is great and how he looks after himself. He played 90 minutes before the break. He wasn’t lacking in legs in the closing stages.
“Hopefully he’ll be a little bit stronger now.”
And there was also an update on long-term absentee Patson Daka, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury picked up in Leicester’s final pre-season fixture against Lens.
Cooper said: “It’s long-term recovery but he’s out of his boot now and his crutches.
“He had an operation soon after the injury so he’s looking a bit more normal in terms of how he is walking around the place.
“He’s on course but still a while away.”
Leicester travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday before hosting fellow Premier League strugglers Everton at the King Power Stadium next weekend.
