On Thursday, Leicester City have a rather important game in the Europa League against Napoli.
The Foxes currently sit top of Group C in the competition, one point ahead of both Spartak Moscow and the Italians, but could easily drop to third if the Russians beat Legia and Luciano Spalletti’s men get all three points against Brendan Rodgers’ side.
However, and this is a big one, the Serie A club will face their Premier League counterparts with a very depleted squad, as explained by Corriere dello Sport on Monday.
The newspaper look at the series of misfortunes faced by the Napoli players, with the headline ‘one after the other’, after Stanislav Lobotka picked up an injury against Atalanta at the weekend.
First losing Victor Osimhen to a cheekbone fracture against Inter back on November 21st, Spalletti then saw André Zambo Anguissa and Kalidou Koulibaly follow quickly with their own injuries.
If that wasn’t enough, Lorenzo Insigne and Fabián Ruiz then picked up their own issues ‘almost simultaneously’, which was then followed by Lobotka at the weekend.
Add to that Alessandro Zanoli being out with Covid-19 and Kostas Manolas first nursing a glute strain and then a stomach ache, and the tally of injuries in the first-team squad is eight.
That’s eight players, mostly all first-team regulars, Leicester City won’t have to face, which should make their task easier.
They just need to avoid complacency, and get the job done.
