Leicester City

Henry Brownsey
BBC Sport journalist

Leicester City boss Steve Cooper has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Chelsea (kick-off 12:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Abdul Fatawu was injured on international duty with Ghana and Cooper said it is "not good - a serious ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] injury that's going to rule him out for the rest of the season. A real blow."

• He said the 20-year-old needs to be supported so his rehab and return is "as smooth as possible" to come back "as a stronger player and person."

• Cooper believes Ricardo Pereira "will be a good ally in the medical room" after the Portuguese defender suffered a similar injury previously.

• Forward Jordan Ayew also came back injured from international duty but Cooper said "it's not a serious injury and the hope is he may be available for the weekend".

• In more positive news, Patson Daka is available for Saturday's game and Jamie Vardy has been having modified training. Cooper will judge where he is at before the game.

• Finally on team news, Bobby De Cordova-Reid is making progress in recovering from a cut sustained against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup: " [He] has been back on the training pitch. The hope is that he reports today and the cut doesn't open again."

• Cooper believes the injuries mean it's "a real opportunity to bring us closer together and show who we really are."

• On Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, who led the Foxes to promotion last season: "Enzo did a brilliant job getting the club back to the Premier League. He's gone on and had a more than strong start at Chelsea. We know we're coming up against a talented team with a really good coach. It's a game which is a real test but one we need to embrace and be ready for."

• Cooper was passionate about Leicester's position in the Premier League: "I knew how hard this challenge was going to be on and off the pitch this year. It has proven to be exactly that. We're fully aware of the environment we're in."

• He was therefore quite reflective on the season so far: "When you look back, it's been a bit of everything. There's been some decent results and then the opposite of that. We always want more. The league position is OK and if it stayed like this, a lot of people would be satisfied, but I want more."

Follow all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Owynn Palmer-Atkin
BBC Radio Leicester reporter

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Leicester City expert Owynn Palmer-Atkin has been taking your questions and we'll be running his answers throughout Thursday.

Ned asked: It's the end of the season and we have stayed up - should we continue with our previous transfers strategy and sell a top player? Who is most likely to be sold and how much would you accept for them?

Owynn answered: It is a strategy that I think the club have to stick to, in order to raise the necessary funds to invest at the level required.

However, it was pretty obvious who those top players were over the last few seasons - Wesley Fofana, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have brought in around £200m to Leicester City alone.

But who is the next big money, sellable asset?

Both Wilfred Ndidi and Abdul Fatawu hold big value to Leicester City - they are both on new contracts which helps to add an insurance for the club. Ndidi has bags of Premier League experience, while Fatawu is an exciting young winger with explosive abilities.

But, for me, that next big sale could come in the form of Mads Hermansen.

The desire and need for a goalkeeper to be able to be comfortable on the ball, be able to play forward-line splitting passes and of course be a great shot-stopper is big.

He is the definition of a modern goalkeeper, and his performances so far this season show that he is made for the Premier League level.

It would not surprise me in the slightest if big money offers begin to come in for him, and they may be offers that Leicester City aren't able to turn down.

Download and subscribe to the When You're Smiling: A Leicester City Podcast for the best access to the latest talking points at King Power Stadium.

And listen to every Foxes match, home and away, on BBC Radio Leicester.

Owynn Palmer-Atkin
BBC Radio Leicester reporter

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Over the course of Thursday, BBC Radio Leicester's Owynn Palmer-Atkin will be answering your questions about all things Leicester City.

Nick asked: Any idea why our finances suddenly plummeted? We were pushing top four, but then we couldn't compete financially. Does Top have the backing to continue his father's dream?

Owynn answered: After Leicester City won the FA Cup in 2021, the club continued to invest heavily to back the then manager Brendan Rodgers. In fact, that summer they hit their biggest ever net spend to bring Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumare, Jannik Vestergaard and Ademola Lookman to the club.

That was all done with the intention of helping the side gain that extra couple of percent needed to get over the top four barrier and qualify for the Champions League again.

As we know, that didn't happen. Leicester finished fifth and got to the semi-finals of the Conference League.

The club then couldn't continue that level of spending without the guarantee of Champions League cash, which props up a lot of the transfer business top sides do, so they decided to revert back to the old system that served them so well before.

Sell a key player and reinvest in the squad.

Ultimately, they sold Wesley Fofana in the summer of 2022 and were relegated.

Download and subscribe to the When You're Smiling: A Leicester City Podcast for the best access to the latest talking points at King Power Stadium.

And listen to every Foxes match, home and away, on BBC Radio Leicester.

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

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The return of Enzo Maresca to King Power Stadium with Chelsea on Saturday will take the spotlight.

The title-winning head coach, who took Leicester back to the Premier League before moving to Stamford Bridge, deserves a place in the Foxes' history books.

But the club needs to move forward and Maresca's comeback has to be a footnote in the big picture. While it was a successful, brief spell - even if there were some grumblings about the patient style last term - there is little point dwelling on the past.

Steve Cooper has been trying to implement his vision into the team since replacing him but that naturally takes time and the squad are still taking on board the instructions having been playing in such a specific way under Maresca.

With that work, Leicester have been steadily improving, with the exception of last month's poor 3-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest. Snatching a late point against Ipswich means they have still not lost to a team below them this season.

The struggles of those below still leave the Foxes in a solid position, although it remains precarious given that any drop-off would, most likely, see them slip into the bottom three.

The progress of moving away from the Maresca era has been slow but it is happening - and while a title-winning manager should not be forgotten, it is important to look to the future.

The latest When You're Smiling episode has landed and in this week's show, BBC Radio Leicester's Adam Whitty is joined by former winger Matt Piper and Foxes fan Mark Manfield.

Following news of injuries to Abdul Fatawu and Jordan Ayew while on international duty, the team discuss Leicester's growing list of absentees.

"It is a massive blow. With Jordan Ayew, he has been an unsung hero in different games this season. He scored some late goals and he is a great player to bring off the bench for us," Manfield said.

"Also losing Abdul Fatawu is a critical blow for us. We look at our options going forward and the type of players that can create something for us, he is the main man really. He is so dangerous when he is on his game, so hopefully it won't be a lengthy injury for him but I did see he had a brace on his knee the other day in Ghana.

"They [Fatawu and Ayew] have just found their form. I don't think we are left with loads of players who give us that danger in attack and Fatawu is a game changer for me.

"Not to undo what Ayew has done but Fatawu is the real blow. The real worry is that it is a substantial injury for Ayew, that is a blow in itself. You do wonder if we are going to see him again this year or even this season.

"We take away Jamie Vardy from that attack, who we can't really be expecting to play every minute of every game anymore, it leaves us with Odsonne Edouard as the only real viable option at the minute."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Steve Cooper has a "brutal and unforgiving" job as Leicester City boss, says award-winning football writer Henry Winter.

Chants of "Cooper, Cooper sort it out" were sung by sections of Foxes fans as they succumbed to a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United before the international break.

Leicester have won just two of their 11 Premier League matches since being promoted back to the top flight.

Enzo Maresca took Leicester up from the Championship, with Cooper replacing the Italian after he left for the Chelsea job.

Winter says there remain "raised expectations" at the King Power Stadium after the club sensationally won the Premier League title eight years ago and adds that Foxes fans "remain to be convinced" by the former Nottingham Forest boss.

"The criticism will hurt him," Winter, formerly of The Times and The Daily Telegraph, told BBC East Midlands Today.

"Managers, they are not robots - they are human beings. What were they singing the other day? 'Cooper, Cooper sort it out'. And that is his job. It's brutal and unforgiving and he has to sort it out."

In the video above, Winter also talks about how Saturday's match against Chelsea, and a reunion with promotion-winning boss Maresca, will make for an intriguing test for Leicester.

BBC Sport pundit Nedum Onuoha gives us his insight and opinion every fortnight on your Premier League club.

But this week, he's in the hotseat for your questions.

So what do you want to ask for a former player. Best opponent? Most memorable team-mate he played with?

Or maybe you're just interested in what next for your club this season?

Send in your questions, external

Tottenham Hotspur are looking at the possibility of re-signing 28-year-old English midfielder Harry Winks, having only sold him to Leicester City last year. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

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There has been some pressure on players carrying an injury going into international breaks with their national side because you are contracted to these clubs and that is where your income is.

But, for me, as a player I had a similar mindset to Harry Kane that I would always be available - injured or not injured. I would have injections when I was on international duty just so I could represent my country because it meant that much.

It is difficult, however. If you look at Jack Grealish and Pep Guardiola's comments, he has a point because the forward has not been able to play for Manchester City because of injuries. So if you have been sidelined for three or four games, I would agree that you are then not fit and available to go on international duty.

But when you look at some of the other players, ones who have been playing and being managed by their club, then I do not see it being different to being played and managed by your country.

From the club's side, when they are competing at such high levels in the Premier League, you can understand why they would want their players to be rested and get fully fit again over the two weeks, rather than having to come back straight into a hectic period of fixtures.

I kind of get it from both points of view but, as a player, if I am half fit and being played by my club, I would be fully available for my national team.

It is really difficult with the pressure that is on the players, though. I would not look at it as a decision players have made solely.

Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport's Nicola Pearson

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Former Leicester winger Matt Piper says Steve Cooper does not "help himself" with some of the comments he makes.

Speaking on BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast about the 3-0 loss at Manchester United, Piper said: "It was a particularly poor performance from the team, but also the manager - I don't say that lightly.

"[Steve Cooper said] 'he never felt like a goal was coming'. If you don't feel there is a goal coming and you're 2-0 down and you don't make your first substitute until the 70th minute - that's what I don't understand.

"You've got to change it. You're not going to score if you feel like that standing in your technical area."

Leicester actually managed more shots on target than United in the defeat, but the hosts held a comfortable two-goal lead from just before half-time before completing the win in the final 10 minutes.

"I know a lot of fans are already to the point where they want him gone, but he doesn't help himself," Piper said. "He uses comments like that after the game but he didn't do anything about it.

"As the manager and leader of the club, you have to do something about it to change the fortune on a particularly bad afternoon.

"He tells you straight away what the problem is but it keeps happening week on week and that's really not helpful for the manager."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Kate Blakemore
Fan writer

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The old saying goes that the only certainties in this world are death and taxes. I would add to that: rain in Manchester, a host of individual Leicester City defensive errors, goals conceded down the right side and poor in-game management by Steve Cooper.

A very flattering scoreline for the Red Devils that the statistically observant among us would feel a sense of wonder how it wasn't, perhaps, 0-0. Three good shots, three goals. Sigh!

The notable absentee was Jamie Vardy, and his replacement in the shape of Jordan Ayew showed just how sharp and influential Vardy remains at his youthful 37. Moreover, it made me realise that, at this moment, life after Vardy looks very bleak.

There were few options up front when we did get into good areas, which was compounded by poor movement off the ball and uninspiring replacements on the bench.

The summer signings are not providing the solutions that were hoped, with Caleb Okoli and Oliver Skipp losing their regular places early on, and Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Odsonne Edouard barely featuring.

The sad news of another lengthy injury lay-off for Ricardo Pereira also added a further blow. There are not many players unluckier than 'Ricky P'. He is a truly gifted player who I hope returns as soon as possible.

It means that we will now have to persevere with our two current full-backs in James Justin and Victor Kristiansen for the foreseeable, both of whom are regularly exposed through a mixture of formation and individual issues.

And, just like that, we find ourselves at another international break, yet to find a full 90-minute "good" performance and eliminate individual errors.

The pressure is mounting on Cooper, for sure, and fans are growing impatient with the rinse-and-repeat problems with the performances, as debates move to a stick-or-twist situation.

Find more from Kate Blakemore at Leicester Till I Die, external

The latest episode of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast has landed.

Owynn Palmer-Atkin is joined by former Foxes winger Matt Piper and The Athletic's Jordan Halford to reflect on the weekend's loss to Manchester United and to prepare for another international break.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

David Moyes is eyeing a return to Premier League management with Crystal Palace, Wolves, Southampton and Leicester all potentially interested. (Talksport), external

Want more transfer stories and gossip? Read Tuesday's full column

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Opta's supercomputer has tipped promoted Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City as the three most likely teams to get relegated from the Premier League this season.

Southampton are bottom and winless after 10 games since returning to the top flight, with the computer giving them 94.9% chance of being relegated.

Despite climbing out of the bottom three with an impressive first win of the season against Tottenham at this weekend, Ipswich are the next side being tipped to go down with a 70.7% chance.

While Leicester are 15th, three points clear of the drop zone, they are the third most likely side to get relegated according to Opta, with a 46.9% chance.

Wolves, Everton and Crystal Palace are the remaining sides that have an 18% or more chance of falling down to the second tier by May.

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We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Manchester United and Leicester.

Here are some of your comments:

Man Utd fans

Warren: Manuel Ugarte is looking better and better and he made a huge difference to Casemiro, which was also very good. The midfield looked solid but the defence never looked safe with Diogo Dalot poor. Marcus Rashford was sadly anonymous again.

Eric: We played great, with Amad Diallo as man of the match. We closed them down and were on the attack in the first half. The second half was slack but Leicester didn't score. Two great goals and I enjoyed it. I hope Ruben Amorim keeps Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Peter: Not the best game ever but three goals and three valuable points will do. Some good performances: Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Ugarte... but poor from Dalot and Rashford. There is much work for Amorim to do but 100% effort is a minimum for every player.

Leicester fans

Nigel: Once again we were outplayed. Every Leicester ball was either over hit or passed to no one. It's one thing to play well on the training ground but another when you play your opposition. all in all a very disjointed performance. Feel we might be going down now.

JC: Passive and disappointing. I didn’t expect us to win but I expected us to compete against a very average Man Utd side. I’ve been a supporter of Steve Cooper but today I could not see what the team were trying to do.

Stephen: A shocking performance. No fight, no closing down and the defending was shocking. Not doing the basics right.

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Leicester's misery after their 3-0 loss to Manchester United on Sunday was compounded by the news right-back Ricardo Pereira has been ruled out for "about four months" with a hamstring problem.

Pereira missed the trip to Old Trafford after being withdrawn late on in the 1-1 draw at Ipswich the week before.

"It's bad news - Ricky will be out for about four months with a serious hamstring injury," Cooper said post-match.

"It's a real blow for everybody, and especially him. We'll all be with him now in his recovery."

The Foxes had chances in the loss to the Red Devils - registering five shots on target to their opponents three - but failed to find a way past Andre Onana in the United goal.

"There’s nothing good about a 3-0 defeat, and we've not done enough to stop their goals," Cooper added.

"We got into more than enough positions to threaten United’s box, but as a team we didn't show enough.

"In large parts the game seemed even, but in certain moments we’ve not done enough at both ends of the pitch. We're not going to hide away from the chances and goals we're conceding, and we'll keep showing intent to improve that.

"We know we have creativity and threat in the team, but didn't maximise that.

"Whether it was a mixture of United being really ruthless stopping us, whether we could've made better decisions or shown more quality - it could be all of those things."

Watch highlights and analysis from Sunday's four Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Man Utd 3-0 Leicester

• Nottingham Forest 1-3 Newcastle

• Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal

Tottenham are keen on a move for Argentine midfielder Facundo Buonanotte, 19, but will have to compete with Leicester, where he is on loan from Brighton. (Fichajes - in Spanish, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

The latest episode of the When You're Smiling has landed.

BBC Radio Leicester's Jack Rafferty and former Foxes winger Matt Piper dissect Leicester's defeat to Manchester United.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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Steve Cooper spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Leicester's defeat against Manchester United: "The result will paint the picture but in the end we didn't show enough desire in either penalty area. We let two unopposed shots from outside the area for the goals.

"Two of the goals have come from our corners as well which is frustrating. It wasn't a dangerous position but we made it dangerous. At the other end we got into good areas but didn't show that same desire.

"Our general play was fine but in the end we didn't have the purpose. We had good spells, we were in the game, it didn't feel like they were going to score the next goal.

"We can't just say we missed Jamie Vardy, we can't be reliant on that."