With the international break drawing towards an end, Leicester City supporters will be turning their attention to Southampton on Saturday.
Steve Cooper will have been spending the entire fortnight break planning how Leicester City can make it back-to-back wins against Southampton.
This has not been easy with 13 players on international duty and that, combined with players sidelined through injury, will have been in Cooper’s thinking.
- READ MORE: Leicester City ace’s international call-up leaves Steve Cooper with Southampton decision to make
With that in mind, let’s split the issues up…
Leicester City players injured and expected to be unavailable
The following players are out with injuries pending further updates…
- Patson Daka
- Hamza Choudhury
- Jakub Stolarczyk
Leicester players who may not be 100 per cent for Southampton
There are question marks this weekend over the following players…
- Jannik Vestergaard
- Facundo Buonanotte
- Bobby De Cordova-Reid
Jannik Vestergaard has not featured for Leicester since starting in the 2-1 defeat against Fulham in the second game of the season.
However, the defender made a first appearance since returning from injury for Denmark in their 1-0 defeat against Spain and could start again against Switzerland on Tuesday night.
The toll that two games in quick succession could have on Vestergaard means he may not bet 100% fit to face Southampton.
Facundo Buonanotte has been a revelation this season and scored the winner against Bournemouth last match, earning himself a call-up to the Argentina senior side.
Argentina face Bolivia at 1am BST on Wednesday, meaning Buonanotte will not return to Leicester training until Friday following a long-haul flight so may not be ready to start at 3pm Saturday.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid is away representing Jamaica and could face a similar issue to Buonanotte.
Leicester City’s best available players
At present we are going to rule out all of the above as starters for Leicester’s match with Southampton, looking at who else this leaves available.
- GK: Mads Hermansen
- RB: James Justin
- CB: Wout Faes
- CB: Caleb Okoli
- LB: Victor Kristiansen
- CM: Oliver Skipp
- CM: Harry Winks
- CM: Wilfred Ndidi
- RW: Abdul Fatawu
- LW: Stephy Mavididi
- CF: Jamie Vardy
Cooper has kept a very settled back four and goalkeeper recently and will continue to do so at Southampton having been boosted by the early return of Victor Kristiansen from international duty.
Harry Winks could return to the midfield if Buonanotte is not deemed ready to start, with Wilfred Ndidi moving slightly further forward after enduring a bizarre time away with Nigeria.
Abdul Fatawu could come into the side on the right despite Cooper’s reluctance to start the Ghanaian and Stephy Mavididi in the same side, with Jamie Vardy leading the line.