Barnes ruled out for six weeks in latest injury blow for Leicester

Leicester’s challenge to qualify for next season’s Champions League suffered another major injury blow with news Harvey Barnes is set to miss six weeks due to knee surgery.

The 23-year-old winger had been tipped for a call-up to the England squad for three World Cup qualifiers next month after scoring 13 goals this season to help the Foxes into third in the Premier League.

However, Barnes’s injury compounded a bad day for Brendan Rodgers’s men as they lost 3-1 at home to Arsenal on Sunday.

“It looks like Harvey Barnes is going to need an operation on his knee. I just spoke to the doctor; he might be out for six weeks,” said Rodgers.

“That’ll be a huge blow for us.”

Leicester let a huge lead over Manchester United and Chelsea slip away in the second half of last season to miss out on the top four on the final day of the campaign.

A mounting injury list means they are at risk of the same thing happening again with the influential James Maddison also nursing a hip injury, while Dennis Praet, Ayoze Perez, Wesley Fofana, Wes Morgan and James Justin are all currently ruled out.

Fifth-placed Chelsea can close to within three points of Leicester with victory over Manchester United later on Sunday, while Liverpool can also make up ground when they travel to bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United.

kca/nr