Steve Cooper facing double pressure as fresh Leicester City injury concerns emerge

SAD NEWS: Steve Cooper facing double pressure as fresh Leicester City injury concerns emerge

Leicester City boss Steve Cooper
Leicester City boss Steve Cooper (Image: Getty)

Leicester City will make the trip to face Chelsea this weekend as they return to action after the international break.

Steve Cooper’s side will host the Blues at the King Power Stadium on Saturday (12.30pm kick-off). The Foxes will go into the game looking to end a three-match winless run in the Premier League, having lost 3-0 at Manchester United last time out.

City currently sit 15th in the table, three points above the relegation zone. As they gear up for the weekend’s clash, below is a look at the latest Foxes news.

Cooper pressure

Ruud van Nilstelrooy’s departure from Manchester United has left Leicester City boss Steve Cooper “looking over his shoulder”, it has been claimed.

Cooper has led City to 10 points from their opening 11 league games of the season. Ahead of their return to action from the international break, the Foxes sit three points above the relegation zone in 15th place.

However, they suffered their heaviest defeat to the Premier League campaign so far immediately before the hiatus. There were loud boos from the away end after the final whistle of the team’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford and chants during the game of “Cooper, sort it out”.

Jordan Ayew and Abdul Fatawu appear to have picked up injuries while on duty for Ghana. Both have left the international camp and are due to return to the UK today for treatment.

Ayew scored a spectacular opener for his country in Friday’s 1-1 draw with Angola and completed the full 90 minutes. However, scans after the game revealed a “significant” knee problem.

Dewsbury-Hall reunion

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s move to Chelsea has not gone as he would have hoped for – and as a result an emotional return to the King Power Stadium might not be as likely it seemed just a few months ago.

The Shepshed midfielder reunited with former City boss Enzo Maresca this summer, joining Chelsea for £30m. He will be back at his boyhood club on Saturday, November 23, kick-off 12.30pm, and should he find himself on the scoresheet, he’s said he won’t go wild.

“If I score against them I won’t celebrate,” the 25-year-old said in July. “I wish them the best of luck for this season. I wanted to test myself at the next level. This felt like the right time and I wouldn’t have left Leicester for a sideways move – it had to be a top move.

 

Huth reflections

Forget Jamie Vardy’s goals, the towering defensive displays of Wes Morgan or the inspired goalkeeping of Kaspar Schmeichel, the true hero of Leicester City’s against-all-odds title success of 2015/16 has finally been named.

In a team full of club legends, it is not only hard but also probably invidious to select one man over another in the Foxes ’ one-in-5,000 Premier League triumph. However, few people are better qualified to do so than another member of the City title-winning team.

Robert Huth formed an almost impenetrable barrier at the back for Leicester alongside skipper Morgan, frustrating some of the best attackers the Premier League had to offer at the time and providing the platform on which the likes of Vardy prospered.

And in conversation with talkSPORTS’ Andy Goldstein, Huth discussed the key men in Leicester’s success, when they thought winning the title was a realistic ambition – and how it felt to realise what for many of the team would have been an impossible dream

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*