Leicester’s Rodgers frustrated by Maddison’s ‘catalyst’ hip injury.

(Reuters) – Leicester City playmaker James Maddison has been ruled out of Sunday’s Premier League game against Arsenal with a hip problem, manager Brendan Rodgers said.

Maddison, who has scored 11 goals and provided 10 assists in all competitions this season, has missed Leicester’s last six games of the 2019-20 campaign with a similar problem which required surgery.

The England international, 24, was substituted as a precaution in last weekend’s 2-1 league win at Aston Villa after a recurrence of his hip problem and missed Thursday’s 2-0 defeat by Slavia Prague, who eliminated them from the Europa League.

“It’s a frustrating time. He’s been in great form. He’s a real catalyst for our team with his consistency. After being out at the start of the season, his consistency has developed and he’s been absolutely brilliant,” Rodgers told reporters .

“The injury he’s got is not timed. He had an operation at the end of last season. He’s got a bit of a tendon problem just above that.

“Hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later, but we can’t put a time line because it’s just how he feels and how he can recover over the next few weeks.”

Rodgers will also be without Ayoze Perez (knee), Wesley Fofana and Dennis Praet (both hamstrings) as well as Wes Morgan (back) for the visit of the Gunners.

“Going into next week we’ll probably go with more or less the same team,” Rodgers added.

“Even if those guys come back, they’re not going to be ready for a game situation, they’re just going to join the practice squad.

“It’s a bit frustrating because a few weeks ago, the team was quite strong.”

Leicester are third in the league with 49 points from 25 games.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)