Leicester City number one Mads Hermansen may not be fit to face Liverpool – and now Ruud van Nistelrooy could be without Jamie Vardy too.
City desperately missed their first-choice goalkeeper in Sunday’s defeat to Wolves, as stand-in Danny Ward made mistakes, and then was booed and mocked by the crowd. While Hermansen is improving, he may not have fully recovered from his groin injury in time for the Boxing Day trip to Anfield.
However, Jakub Stolarczyk will be in contention for selection. The Wolves clash came slightly too soon for the Pole, but he is now available and will rival Ward for the starting spot should Hermansen not be ready.
But City now have problems at the other end of the pitch too. Vardy picked up a knock in the loss to Wolves and needs to be assessed over the coming days to determine if he’s ready. If not, Patson Daka could make his first start of the season.
“We’re assessing every day with Mads,” van Nistelrooy said at his press conference on Tuesday. “Jakub is back and is fit and is available. We’ll make decisions in the coming days.
“Jakub, he’s been playing in the Under-21s, his training and development continues. With the busy schedule, we have options. First we’ll find out with Mads, what his situation is and whether he will be playing on Thursday, whether it’s possible, and then we’ll assess what will be the best thing for Thursday.
“We have to address Jamie. He picked up some knocks. We have to address it today and tomorrow to see if he’s ready on Thursday. I don’t want to share on personal medical updates of players. Hopefully he will be fine, but if not, it will be short term.”
Van Nistelrooy did not suggest there were any further injuries, which could see Kasey McAteer return to the fold. The winger missed the loss to Wolves with a knock. Wilfred Ndidi is expected to remain sidelined with a hamstring issue.
