Leicester City suffer major setback ahead of Chelsea clash
Leicester City will go into their all-important Premier League clash with Chelsea without defender Jonny Evans. The Northern Ireland international suffered a foot injury in Leicester's FA Cup win against Chelsea and is now sidelined for their Premier League fixture.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of a massive top-four game against Chelsea, manager Brendon Rodgers confirmed that the Foxes will be without Jonny Evans. Rodgers is also not sure whether Evans would be fit to take part in Leicester City's final game of the season, which is at home against Tottenham Hotspur. He said:
"Jonny won't play in the Chelsea game, he'll struggle for that. We'll see what he's like for next weekend, but he won't be involved tomorrow."
Jonny Evans was forced to limp off the pitch in the 34th minute of the FA Cup final. Despite an injury to their star defender, Leicester City defeated Chelsea with a narrow 1-0 margin to win their first ever FA Cup trophy.
Chelsea host Leicester in crucial game to secure Champions League qualification
Three days after their FA Cup final clash at Wembley, Chelsea and Leicester City meet again. This time, a place in the top four of the Premier League is on the line. Liverpool are just a point behind Chelsea in fifth, so both Chelsea and Leicester will be aware that a defeat on Tuesday will leave the door open for Liverpool to sneak into the top four.
With Leicester now set to be without Jonny Evans, Brendon Rodgers will have to tweak his tactics. In the FA Cup final, Rodgers played with a back three to give them more solidarity at the back. However, after Evans limped off, Rodgers brought on Marc Albrighton and switched to a back four.
Against Chelsea, Rodgers has the option of playing club captain Wes Morgan in defense and continuing with a back-three system or he can go with an additional midfielder.
Even against an Evans-less Leicester side, Chelsea will have their work cut out on Tuesday. Having already lost a major final, another defeat to Leicester could be damaging to their hopes of clinching Champions League football next season. However, the Blues do have home advantage this time around, which could prove to be crucial to Thomas Tuchel's European aspirations.