Is there really a COVID ‘crisis’ at Leicester ahead of Newcastle clash?

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Talk of a COVID crisis has dominated the build-up to Newcastle United’s Sunday clash with Leicester.

While Newcastle will be riding a wave of momentum following their win over Burnley, the Foxes have a plethora of problems.

They lost their last Premier League game to Aston Villa, then had a crucial Europa League tie with Napoli on Thursday night.

But before that game, Brendan Rodgers confirmed that seven of his players would be unavailable for the game in Naples, with some testing positive for COVID and others just generally ill.

This was a huge blow for Leicester, going into a game they needed to get something out of to qualify for the next round.

It also suggested Newcastle could have a helping hand on Sunday when they arrive at the King Power. It was described as a ‘COVID crisis’ by the Sun, while Newcastle World pondered if the game against the Magpies would go ahead.

And here at Geordie Boot Boys, we spoke about how the unfortunate circumstances could hand Newcastle a huge opportunity.

However, it looks like ‘crisis’ wasn’t really the word to describe it.

Leicester almost at full strength vs Napoli amid COVID ‘crisis’

Rodgers’ side lost 3-2 to Napoli last night, condemning them to a place in the Europa Conference League.

And they lost with basically a full strength team. They had Jamie Vardy leading the line, while Wilfred Ndidi and Youri Tielemans were in midfield. The only lesser known player in the team was Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who started the previous game against Aston Villa as well.

There weren’t too many senior players missing who weren’t already injured. Kelechi Iheanacho didn’t make the trip, and neither did Ademola Lookman, Jannik Vestergaard or Daniel Amartey.

Ayoze Perez was also out, but he’s very much out of favour at Leicester at the moment. The ex-Magpie struggles to get a start these days.

While the Foxes did lose some players, it’s hardly a crisis. They still had a fantastic starting XI. And they also had some decent options in reserve.

Talk of a COVID crisis alluded to a boost for Newcastle on Sunday, but it doesn’t look like that will be the case. But instead, they’ll face a Leicester side who are bang out of form.