Pre-Ipswich Fitness News: Begovic, Okoli & James

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Pre-Ipswich Fitness News: Begovic, Okoli & James

Asmir Begovic will be out for a period of time, while Caleb Okoli could be back, as Jordan James’ fitness is monitored ahead of Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town.

2026-03-05T14:00+00:00

by Sam Stevens

Published

05 Mar, 2026

from LCFC Training Ground

Pre-Ipswich Fitness News: Begovic, Okoli & James

Asmir Begovic will be out for a period of time, while Caleb Okoli could be back, as Jordan James’ fitness is monitored ahead of Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town.

Sam Stevens

2026-03-05T14:00+00:00

Pre-Ipswich Fitness News: Begovic, Okoli & James

Asmir Begovic will be out for a period of time, while Caleb Okoli could be back, as Jordan James’ fitness is monitored ahead of Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town.

Sam Stevens

2026-03-05T14:00+00:00

Pre-Ipswich Fitness News: Begovic, Okoli & James

Asmir Begovic will be out for a period of time, while Caleb Okoli could be back, as Jordan James’ fitness is monitored ahead of Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town.

Sam Stevens

2026-03-05T14:00+00:00

Pre-Ipswich Fitness News: Begovic, Okoli & James

Asmir Begovic will be out for a period of time, while Caleb Okoli could be back, as Jordan James’ fitness is monitored ahead of Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town.

Sam Stevens

2026-03-05T14:00+00:00

Asmir Begovic is set for a spell out with an ankle injury
Caleb Okoli has 'been fine' in the build-up to Saturday’s test at Ipswich Town
Gary Rowett has also outlined his considerations around Jordan James’ fitness
Hamza Choudhury and Jamaal Lascelles have trained this week

Gary Rowett, the Leicester City Manager, provided an update on the squad two days out from that clash with the Tractor Boys at Portman Road, which comes after defeat to Norwich City at King Power Stadium last weekend.

Goalkeeper Begovic was originally due to start for us against the Canaries, named in the XI, but was withdrawn after the warm-ups, replaced by Jakub Stolarczyk. Centre-back Okoli, on the other hand, came off with a head injury, while midfielder James was a second-half substitute on Filbert Way.

“Bego, I think, he rolled his ankle in the warm-up,” Rowett told reporters in Seagrave. “It’s an ankle strain which will keep him out for a bit of time.

“He’s keen to try and accelerate that. Like you'd imagine, he’s a brilliant professional and he wants to strap it up and get out there, but he’s in a boot at the moment so he will be a good few weeks I'd imagine.

“It’s a blow, but again, we’ve got players to cover that and players to step into the breach. It’s a good opportunity for people while he’s unavailable to get the shirt.”

Jakub Stolarczyk and the goalkeeping group head out to training this week.

On Okoli, who had to be replaced by Jamaal Lascelles at the weekend, the Manager added: “Caleb has been fine. As a precaution, of course, when a player has a whack to the head and cut his head and had stitches in the previous game, if the player feels unwell, of course the medical team at that point have to be careful.

“We've tried to be careful with him also in the week. He’s been fine. There's certainly nothing more than he just felt a bit unwell, so he’ll be available as well.”

James, on the other hand, enjoyed his first minutes since the 1-1 draw at Wrexham AFC on 20 January, but a decision is yet to be taken on his suitability for Ipswich.

“I think he's in a situation where he could be fit enough from the start of a game, of course," he said. "But the challenge then is, if he plays 90 minutes, is he then okay for Tuesday (vs. Bristol City) with that much game time and training time?

“We’ve accelerated him coming back, so he’s available, but what we can’t then do is expect him to churn out 90 minutes straight away. We probably have to be a little careful of how we utilise him.

"I think he was due to be unavailable for Saturday and available for Tuesday because he wants to get back involved and we need players on the bench to affect the game, so it was kind of accelerated a little bit, but we need to be careful and sensible.

"They're all essentially available to start, it's just how many minutes do they get and what does that look like."

Caleb Okoli had to be replaced on Saturday, but Gary Rowett says he's doing well.

Midfielder Hamza Choudhury, out since 31 January, and centre-back Lascelles, who came on vs. Norwich, have also trained this week, giving Rowett some more options.

“I don't believe there's too many fresh injuries,” he explained. “Of course, we’ve had more training minutes into JJ and a little bit into Hamza. It might be too soon.

“We’ve had some more minutes into Jamaal Lascelles as well. He came on when Caleb went off. We’ve got some players coming back. I might have missed one or two people out.

“When we've got players coming back, it’s [a case of] how fit are they? When you’ve got a three-game week coming up, how do you use those players? When you've got players who haven't played much football and you pick them in the first game, they might not be available for the second game.

“We have to manage what we think is the right team for the right game and what does that look like over the course of the week? It’s nice to have bodies back. The training group has been a lot stronger and thankfully I’ll have some good decisions to make which is what you want as a manager.”

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