Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has welcomed Wilfred Ndidi back to his squad ahead of their Premier League fixture against Aston Villa.
The Nigeria international has recovered from a knee injury and returned to action last Wednesday as a second-half substitute in the Foxes' FA Cup victory over Birmingham City.
Ndidi underwent knee surgery on January 9 and made an immediate return against West Ham United 13 days later before playing against Aston Villa in their League Cup semi-final outing on January 28.
The 23-year-old was then out of action for almost a month due to the injury relapse and during his absence, Leicester City failed to win any Premier League match, with a run of two draws and two losses.
Ahead of Monday nights fixture at the King Power Stadium, Rodgers admitted Ndidi’s influence in the middle of the park was missed with the Nigerian midfielder still among the top three tacklers in the Premier League in this campaign.
"I'm not surprised, no. We know we are a better team with him in it, there's no question," Rodgers said, per Leicestershire Live.
"We've got some other really good players in our squad who can come in and do a job, but when you're without one of the best players in that position in the league, he's always going to be a miss.
"Some of the guys have come in and done fantastic, and we've won games without Wilf, but just in general, he's irrepressible in what he gives the team and what he allows the others to be able to do.
"It was great for him to get 60 minutes on Wednesday night and hopefully he can stay fit now because he's very important for us."