Leicester City\u2019s defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi will be sidelined until February after sustaining a knee injury which requires surgery, manager Brendan Rodgers has said.<\/p>\n
Ndidi has been crucial to Leicester\u2019s fortunes this season and the influential Nigerian leads the Premier League in both tackles and interceptions, NAN reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWilf took a knock in training yesterday, which unfortunately means he might need a slight operation,\u201d Rodgers said when explaining why he missed Wednesday\u2019s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just unfortunate. He nicked his meniscus just changing direction. You\u2019re looking at around three or four weeks (out). So, he\u2019ll probably miss most of January and early February, and then he will be back by then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodgers deployed Youri Tielemans in Ndidi\u2019s position before bringing on Hamza Choudhury in the second half and the latter made the crucial interception that allowed Kelechi Iheanacho to grab an equaliser.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoudhury made a huge difference,\u201d Rodgers added. \u201cIt\u2019s my fault that I didn\u2019t start him tonight. We could see that we needed him and he gave us our identity back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leicester, second in the standings, resume their league campaign on Saturday when they host Southampton \u2014 a team they beat 9-0 in the reverse fixture in October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n