Wilfred Ndidi could make his first start in more than a month against Spartak Moscow on Thursday and Brendan Rodgers believes the return of the Nigerian midfielder will improve the club’s defensive form, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The 24-year-old has been out since September after picking up a hamstring injury in Leicester’s 2-2 draw against Burnley at the King Power Stadium.
As a result, he missed Nigeria’s double-header 2022 World Cup qualifying games against the Central African Republic in October.
Ndidi has not featured in City’s last seven games in all competitions because of a hamstring injury but was on the bench for the Foxes’ 2-0 loss to Arsenal.
That was one of only two defeats during the Nigerian’s time out of the team, but City conceded 13 goals across the fixtures, with their defensive woes yet to be solved.
City have only kept one clean sheet in the Premier League this season, against Wolves on the opening day, while they have conceded the fifth-highest tally of goals in the division.
Asked if Ndidi could help sort those issues, Rodgers said, “Hopefully. He’s just trained this week. He was one that if we needed him for 15 or 20 minutes maximum, that was our plan, but chasing the game (against Arsenal) there wasn’t that need to put him on.
“It’s great to have him back and available and we’ll see how his fitness looks over the coming days.”
Ndidi has made nine appearances this term.
Meanwhile, the former Genk midfielder has been shortlisted for Transfermarkt’s Premier League Player of The Season for 2020/21.
The Nigerian is up against Emiliano Martínez, Illan Meslier, Nick Pope, Alphonse Areola, Ederson, Edouard Mendy, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Wesley Fofana, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne.
Others are Bruno Fernandes, Tomas Soucek, Mason Mount, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Heung-min Son, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. (Punch)
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