The walls surrounding King Power Stadium were recently metaphorically tightening around current Leicester City head coach Marti Cifuentes.
Before the last international pause in October, the Foxes finally returned to winning ways thanks to an impressive away victory at Swansea City. Afterwards, City went on a dreadful spell and only just rediscovered some rhythm as the next round of national team fixtures approached.
Since then, LCFC have secured another win, making it back-to-back triumphs in the Sky Bet Championship. However, the East Midlands side now face fresh complications — issues they assumed were long gone.
Injuries are beginning to stack up at Leicester’s Seagrave Training Centre. The squad is edging close to the number of unavailable players endured during that infamous fitness crisis under Brendan Rodgers.
Lord knows what was going on with Rodgers’ medical team in the treatment room?! Thankfully, City haven’t quite reached those previous levels of misfortune yet, but it’s certainly becoming worrisome.
On top of that concern, suspensions have now become an additional disruption. One defender is already ruled out for the clash with Southampton on Tuesday evening, and several more Foxes are at risk of festive-period bans.
Disciplinary anxiety now widespread for Leicester City:
Luke Thomas won’t feature against the Saints. That’s a blow because City only have three senior defensive options fit, according to Leicester Mercury: Wout Faes, Hamza Choudhury and Jannik Vestergaard.
Captain Ricardo Pereira isn’t usually risked in midweek — but he may have to be now. Yet he’s also balancing on a disciplinary tightrope, being just one yellow card away from a one-match absence.
“Choudhury, Vestergaard, Abdul Fatawu and Oliver Skipp are all on three yellow cards and must avoid two cautions over the next three matches to evade suspension, with the cut-off after the 19th game of the campaign, against Derby on Saturday, December 6.”
Similarly, Abdul Fatawu, Oliver Skipp, Choudhury and Vestergaard are only two bookings shy of being sidelined for a fixture. Fortunately, the threshold resets after three matches.