Leicester City injury crisis as James Maddison & seven others ruled out of Newcastle United tie

Leicester City are enduring an injury crisis with eight first-team players ruled out of tonight’s Carabao Cup quarter-final tie against Newcastle United (kick-off 8pm).

Four of the Foxes’ central midfielders are unavailable through injury, with James Maddison the standout absentee among Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Boubakary Soumare and Dennis Praet.

“It’ll be the same squad as the weekend,” said boss Brendan Rodgers. “There’s no timeline on (Maddison). It’s day-to-day. He’s working with the medical team.

“Clearly we want him back as soon as possible, like we do with the other players, as we’ve got five players you’d consider to be starting players out. James (Justin), along with those players, we hope will be back. But I’ve got no timescale on it.”

Praet hasn’t featured since the Boxing Day clash between the two sides. Dewsbury-Hall has missed the previous two games, while Soumare, a former Magpies target, missed Saturday’s FA Cup win at Gillingham.

“(Praet) has been in quite a bit of pain around his ribs and hip so we’re assessing that,” Rodgers said. “He’s been out on the pitch but been non-contact. It’s a delicate one for him at the moment. We’re seeing day by day how it eases off. He’s still not ready for contact yet.

“(Dewsbury-Hall) is due out onto the pitch on Friday, so we’ll assess from there how that goes. We’ll take it from there. (Soumare) will be a wee bit longer. Four to six weeks from when it happened was the diagnosis.”

Rodgers is also without, Jonny Evans (calf), James Justin (Achilles), Ricardo Pereira (Achilles) and Ryan Bertrand (knee) and James Justin (Achilles) out.