Conor Coady injury latest as Leicester City prepare for Southampton trip

The latest Leicester City news as Enzo Maresca’s team make the journey down south on Friday night

We are now more than half way through the international break as Leicester City return to action in just a few days time.

After a weekend without Championship games, City fans don’t have as long to wait as most for the team to return to action. They travel to take on Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium on Friday (8pm kick off).

It does mean that Enzo Maresca won’t have too long to prepare once his international players return. Mads Hermansen, Danny Ward, Wout Faes, Harry Souttar, Callum Doyle, Cesare Casadei, Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka are those away with their nations.

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The majority have been in action over the weekend, Souttar and Daka on the scoresheet, and fingers will be crossed that they all come back with a clean bill of health. For those who have stayed at Seagrave, eyes have been on the game against Southampton, and City may have been given a big injury boost ahead of the match with Conor Coady returning to training.

Here’s a look at the latest injury status in the City squad.

After spending the early weeks in a protective boot and watching from the sidelines, the defender is now getting close to a return. He was due back in training in the week just gone, and it seems that that has been the case.

Coady has been spotted taking part in rondos with his teammates in clips released by the club during the week, much to the delight of fans on social media. Whether Friday night’s game will comes too early for Coady remains to be seen, but it seems he is getting closer to making his long-awaited debut for the club.

Dennis Praet

After featuring in the first three games of the season in all competitions, Praet has missed the last four due to a back injury sustained on the Friday before the clash against Cardiff City. Enzo Maresca confirmed before the game against Hull that the midfielder will be out for three months with the injury.

“It’s an important injury. It’s probably between 10 and 12 weeks. It’s his back,” he said. It means that Praet won’t be expected to return to action until around November, with the game against Leeds United on 4 November maybe one being earmarked.

Alex Smithies

The goalkeeper has not made a single appearance for the club since signing last summer, but was brought in as third choice goalkeeper behind Daniel Iversen and Danny Ward. The emergence of Jakub Solarkczyk and the signing of Mads Hermansen has seen him fall further down the pecking order, but he has also been unavailable anyway due to injury.

How long he is out for is unknown, but he won’t be able to feature for City in the Championship until after January anyway. With City’s squad one over the 25 allowed, Smithies was the man to miss out as the squad was released by the EFL this week.