The most recent injury updates for Leicester City, Leeds United, and Ipswich Town as they compete for automatic promotion to the Premier League
As the competition for promotion between Leeds United, Ipswich Town, and Leicester City heats up, injuries are predicted to have a major impact on who advances automatically from the Championship.
This season, injuries have impacted all three clubs. In terms of significant comebacks or setbacks in terms of fitness, the next few weeks may be critical. Ilia Gruev is without a doubt the most prominent player that Daniel Farke has been missing from Leeds in recent weeks.
After returning from his international assignment with an ankle injury, the midfield player has missed games against Watford and Hull. However, Farke gave a positive update on his status prior to the match against Coventry City, who are hoping to make the playoffs.
He acknowledged on Thursday that “we have a few players on the road to coming back.” “The closest is Ilia Gruev, but he’s hampered by some edema and soreness. Although he hasn’t practiced with the squad yet, there’s a chance he’ll be available for the match. The game is still 48 hours away.”
Farke is anticipated to be missing both Wilfried Gnonto and Connor Roberts, while also acknowledging a new injury blow. Gruev may possibly make a comeback. “They [Roberts and Gnonto] are edging closer,” he stated. “I’m hoping they can make it to the Middlesbrough game a little early. They haven’t yet both gone back to their training. We’ll see.
“The day following the game, Jamie Shacklebone reported having some adductor issues. Stress. He will be sidelined for two weeks, so the Coventry game will be missed undoubtedly.” Although they are still long-term absences for Leeds, Stuart Dallas and Pascal Struijk may yet play this year.
It seemed like Leicester was going to win the league only a few weeks ago, but they are currently behind both Leeds and Ipswich. Before the Easter Monday victory against Norwich, the Foxes had taken just four points from a possible fifteen due to a dismal run of play that coincided with several injuries.
Jamie Vardy and Ricardo Pereira have both recently returned to action but Enzo Maresca is without Thomas Cannon, Kasey Mcateer, Harry Souttar and Ben Nelson. Arguably, of the three automatic promotion contenders, Leicester have the lightest injury list.
As for Ipswich, injury problems for Kieran McKenna heightened over the Easter weekend as his team picked up maximum points. Ahead of taking on Norwich in the East Anglian Derby, the Ipswich boss provided a blanket update before going into detail on the issues in his squad.
“A lot of [the week] has been about recovery with the busy turnaround after the Blackburn game and the boys coming back from internationals,” he said. “We’ve had a few injuries from Monday [against Southampton] that we’re still dealing with so we’re going to have to work really hard to get players available for Saturday and that’s going to be a challenge.”
Kieffer Moore was one of the players making headlines leading up to the game after being substituted off with a back injury in the first half. McKenna has now provided an update on Moore’s health as well as the health of a crucial trio.
“Moore hasn’t been able to train with the boys yet due to a back spasm.” Although Kieffer is doubtful for the weekend, he won’t want to rule himself out.
“The good news is it’s not a long-term thing and if he progresses well then we hope he’ll be available for the games next week if not this one.”
“It’s too soon for George [Hirst] and we’ve got a couple of others from Monday to be honest who haven’t been able to train and are doubts. There is still illness in the camp as well. Players have had flu and chest infections. Leif Davis still isn’t 100 per cent.”
On Wes Burns, he added: “He’s having a second scan today [on his hamstring]. We should know a little bit more after that. He’s feeling better, but he hasn’t progressed to any level of work yet.” Defensive duo Janoi Donacien and Brandon Williams are also currently with injuries but the hope is they can return this month.
Ipswich and Leeds face challenging away fixtures this weekend against Norwich and Coventry, respectively. Meanwhile, Leicester can gain a potentially huge advantage on Saturday when they welcome relegation-threatened Birmingham City to King Power Stadium.
