Leicester squad head into Europa League amid injury crisis
Brendan Rodgers is preparing for his first Europa League tie since February 2019 with his Leicester squad gripped by a severe injury crisis.
Rodgers begins his campaign against Ukrainian team Zorya Luhansk without talismanic striker Jamie Vardy, Wilfred Ndidi and Ricardo Pereira, while Caglar Soyuncu is not expected to return until next year after sustaining an abductor injury.
Islam Slimani has not been included in Leicester’s Europa League squad to leave Rodgers with just one fit centre-forward, Kelechi Iheanacho, who has scored only two Premier League goals in 19 appearances.
Vardy is still struggling with a calf strain and will not be risked ahead of Sunday’s trip to Arsenal, so Rodgers has admitted that Leicester’s return to European football represents a huge challenge.
“We come into it with a really positive mindset but there’s no doubt that with all the games that we’ll have to make changes within it. Our squad isn’t deep enough to make wholesale changes with all the injuries that we have,” he said.
“It’s just unfortunate, but we’ll find other ways. If we have to change, or we have to adapt or adjust, then we’ll do that.
“We worked so hard last year to be in this competition, and it’s been brilliant that we got the qualification and now we want to embrace it. We’re excited by the challenge.
“We would like to go as far as we possibly can. I remember watching Sevilla winning the final last season and the joy they had of winning. That’s of course a big motivation for any team that goes into it.”
Rodgers has never gone past the last 32 in this competition, losing four times at the first knockout stage with Liverpool and Celtic.
Thursday night’s tie will mark his return to the Europa League for the first time in nearly two years, when Celtic were knocked out by Valencia.
He said: “We’ve got a lot of improvements to make [after losing to West Ham and Aston Villa in their last two games].
“If you strip it back the first job ultimately is to get out the group stage and then go as far as we can.
“We can’t look too far ahead but it’s a great experience for a lot of young players who have never sampled European football before.”
Rodgers will rely on the experience of Jonny Evans, the former Manchester United defender who is making his first appearance in European competition since December 2013.
Evans, 32, has not played in Europe since leaving United and admits Leicester have already fulfilled their main objective from last season.
“We're really looking forward to it, it's been a target for a while now and something we highlighted at the start of last summer,” he said.
“We managed to achieve it and it's a pity the fans can experience it with us but as players we will go out and hopefully get off to a good start. We're in every tournament to win it.”
Leicester (probable): Schmeichel; Castagne, Fofana, Evans, Justin; Mendy; Praet, Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes; Iheanacho.
