The 8 players set to miss Leicester City v Ipswich Town - £40k-p/w defender features | OneFootball

There are eight absentees this weekend as Leicester City take on Ipswich Town in the Championship at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

At the start of the season, this one would have been one of the marquee fixtures in this season’s Championship as two of the pre-season promotion favourites, Leicester City and Ipswich Town, face off against each other at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester and Ipswich gained automatic promotion from the second-tier alongside each other in the 2023/24 campaign before then succumbing to fairly humbling relegations from the Premier League last season.

The Foxes have dealt with off-field issues and the continued speculation as to whether or not they will get a points deduction this season, with Marti Cifuentes’ side now sitting in the bottom-half of the table after a frustrating 2-2 draw with Bristol City at Ashton Gate the other day.

After a slow start to the season, Kieran McKenna’s Tractor Boys appear to be motoring now and a 1-0 victory over Stoke City at Portman Road in midweek lifted them to fourth in the table.

As the two sides prepare to meet in Leicester on Saturday afternoon, FLW has taken a look at the players who will be missing from the clash on both sides, with Marti Cifuentes confirming that Jordan James is back in contention and that Aaron Ramsey could well be, too, as he progresses well.

Leicester City

Jeremy Monga

Despite the return of James and possible return of Ramsey, Marti Cifuentes has confirmed that winger Jeremy Monga remains sidelined for the Foxes this weekend.

The extremely talented 16-year-old has been missing due to a ‘small muscular injury’ but is expected to return to training next week, having enjoyed a good start to his professional career at the King Power Stadium, having made his Premier League debut last season.

Boubakary Soumare

In contrast to Monga, who is nearing a return to training and towards full fitness, Cifuentes was less optimistic on now experienced defensive midfielder Boubakary Soumare.

The manager has explained: “With Bouba, it will take a bit longer. With the tests, the specialists and medical team said to us it’s a small issue in his knee that will require some weeks. How many weeks, it’s difficult to say, but hopefully not many.”

The French midfielder has appeared 14 times in the Championship so far this season, but it doesn't appear he will be adding to that anytime soon.

Harry Souttar

Australia international centre-back Harry Souttar is also sidelined for the Foxes, with the former Stoke City man having suffered an Achilles injury on loan at Sheffield United in December last year.

Souttar, who is estimated by Capology to earn £40,000 a week at City, is nearing a return, though, and has said just last week that he is ‘desperate to help’ as he recovers from that long-term absence.

Victor Kristiansen

Left-back Victor Kristiansen is another long-term absentee with the Denmark international having undergone knee surgery, which he confirmed in mid-November, and is therefore set to be out for a little while yet.

Kristiansen started just once in the league under Cifuentes prior to his setback, meaning Luke Thomas will remain in position at left-back as he has done for most of the campaign.

Caleb Okoli

In late-November, Marti Cifuentes also confirmed that centre-back Caleb Okoli would be ruled out for up to six weeks as a result of a knee injury, and so the 24-year-old Italian defender remains unavailable.

Okoli was last seen in early November against Norwich City when starting at right-back, and in the summer transfer window was linked with a move to Italian giants A.C. Milan.

???????Ipswich Town

??????Harry Clarke

The most recent injury update from Town boss Kieran McKenna on defender Harry Clarke came in September, with the former Sheffield United loanee dealing with a serious knee injury.

He has featured for the under 21's three times since then, but remains unavailable for first-team selection - with Darnell Furlong and Ashley Young having the right-back slot covered, it could be a case of Clarke getting minutes elsewhere come January.

???????Conor Townsend

Confirmed all the way back in August, in Ipswich’s final pre-season game, left-back Conor Townsend is dealing with an ACL injury, with the former West Bromwich Albion man remaining sidelined - likely for the remainder of the season.

And with a contract that expires at the end of the season, Townsend may have already played his last game in the blue and white of Ipswich.

???????Wes Burns

Out of contract next summer, Wes Burns will be keen to race back to full fitness to prove his worth once again to Kieran McKenna after suffering a serious knee injury last season.

But he did have to recently withdraw from an under-21's game due to a ‘big gash’ on his leg, as described by McKenna, and is still not ready for first-team action.