Maresca: Vardy, Ricardo, McAteer Out For Chelsea

- Leicester City face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday
- The 12:45pm GMT kick-off is a quarter-finals tie
- Enzo Maresca has confirmed three Foxes players will miss the clash
- Jamie Vardy, Ricardo Pereira and Kasey McAteer are out for City

The Foxes, who defeated the Blues in the 2021 final, face the same opposition at Stamford Bridge in the quarter-finals stage of this season's competition. It's a tie which sees 11th in the Premier League host first in the Sky Bet Championship.

Ahead of the meeting in west London, Maresca offered an update on the fitness of his squad. Vardy, Ricardo and McAteer are all out and, while the Foxes are hoping to welcome them back after the international break, Maresca cannot be specific. 

"Kasey’s injured, Ricky’s injured and Jamie’s injured," the Italian told the media in Seagrave on Friday.

"As I said to you at the last press conference, when we played Sunderland away, [Vardy] didn’t train. He just did something before the game. Then he played the last game. Fortunately for us, he scored twice, but then he got injured again.

"It’s a small problem. I said many times, we all love Jamie Vardy, but at the same time he’s 37 and we cannot forget that. It’s not a big issue. We also have the international break so hopefully we can have all our players back after that."

"Probably Kasey is the worst one. We’re not sure if he’ll be back after the international break, but probably yes. We’ll see."

Wilfred Ndidi, on the other hand, has slowly been returning to fitness, featuring in City's last two outings. Maresca says the Club will continue to take care with the Nigerian as he looks to provide a boost to Leicester's objectives this term.

"We are trying to manage a little bit the situation, to progress a little bit with him," Maresca added. "He played 20-25 minutes against Sunderland and he played 45 in the last game. We’ll see for Sunday’s game.

"With him, with all the injured players, when they are coming back, you have to be a little bit careful. Especially in this moment. We have, I think, just 40 days to go to finish the season.

"Any injury in this moment can be crucial, so you have to be careful, but it’s football. We cannot control any injuries."