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Ndidi injury: How many games could the Leicester & Nigeria star miss?

Wilfred Ndidi - Leicester City
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A spell on the sidelines awaits Wilfred Ndidi, with the injured midfielder at risk of missing some key games for Leicester City and Nigeria.

Leicester City and the Nigeria national team will be without Wilfred Ndidi for around four to five weeks.

The defensive midfielder suffered a hamstring injury in Leicester’s 2-2 draw with Burnley on October 25. He has since missed the club’s last two matches – the 1-0 Europa League defeat to Legia Warsaw and the 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace in the Premier League last weekend.

But that’s only the start of it, as Brendan Rodgers has revealed how long the Ndidi injury saga could last.

“He did it [the injury] in the [Burnley] game, which was unfortunate. It could be four to five weeks, so we’ll see how that goes,” the Foxes boss told BBC Radio Leicester on Sunday.

Ndidi injury: How many games could he miss?

Taking Rodgers’ four to five week timeframe into account, Ndidi might not return until early to mid-November.

With this in mind, here are the games the 24-year-old could miss for club and country in the upcoming weeks.

Leicester City – 7 fixtures

From today until the next international break on November 15, Leicester may miss Ndidi for all the seven games in between these dates. That’s four Premier League fixtures, two Europa League outings, and an EFL Cup tie.

The biggest games Ndidi could miss? That would be the Premier League games against Manchester United (October 16) and Arsenal (October 30) at the King Power Stadium.

Games Ndidi could miss for Leicester
DateMatchCompetition
October 16Leicester City vs Manchester UnitedPremier League
October 20Spartak Moscow vs Leicester CityEuropa League
October 24Brentford vs Leicester CityPremier League
October 27Leicester City vs BrightonEFL Cup
October 30Leicester City vs ArsenalPremier League
November 4Leicester City vs Spartak MoscowEuropa League
November 7Leeds United vs Leicester CityPremier League

Nigeria – 2 games (min)

Super Eagles boss Gernot Rohr has already left Ndidi out of his 23-man squad for the current international break.

The former Genk midfielder, therefore, is out for Nigeria’s double-World Cup qualifier header against the Central African Republic between Thursday and Sunday.

But if Ndidi recovers in time, he could return for next month’s international break. Nigeria will have two more World Cup qualifiers to play, starting with a trip to Liberia on November 11. Rohr’s men then welcome Cape Verde Islands back home three days later.

Games Ndidi could miss for Nigeria
DateMatchCompetition
October 7Nigeria vs Central African RepublicWorld Cup qualifier
October 14Central African Republic vs NigeriaWorld Cup qualifier
November 11Liberia vs NigeriaWorld Cup qualifier
November 14Nigeria vs Cape Verde IslandsWorld Cup qualifier
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