Leicester City manager Claude Puel has confirmed that Wilfried Ndidi picked a hamstring injury in Saturday's 5-0 loss to Crystal Palace while hinting it could hinder the midfielder's chances of featuring at the World Cup.
The Super Eagles midfielder was forced off after 51 minutes of play as the King Power Stadium outfit were outmuscled by Roy Hodgson's side.
Puel, uncertain about the severity of the injury, hopes the 21-year-old can make Nigeria’s squad to the World Cup in Russia.
“I hope it is not a serious injury for Ndidi and I hope he can play in the World Cup, all the scenarios today were bad for us,” Puel told club website.
“We will see. It is a hamstring injury. I hope it is not serious of course because it is an important moment.”
Leicester City were two goals down before Ndidi limped off and Marc Albrighton was sent off minutes later.
And the French tactician has faulted the two unfortunate situations for compounding his team’s woes against the Eagles.
“At 2-0, we lost all the balance to the team and there wasn’t enough desire. We tried to change it tactically at half-time, but the injury to Ndidi and the red card made it really difficult. Tough day,” Puel said in his post-match conference.
“The red card was harsh. It was a battle between two players, both making contact. It happened during a crazy five minutes with the injury to Ndidi that left the team so imbalanced. We needed to react in the second half and this scenario made it impossible.”
CLAUDE: “At 2-0 we lost all the balance to the team and there wasn’t enough desire. We tried to change it tactically at half-time, but the injury to Ndidi and the red card made it really difficult. Tough day.” #CryLei
— Leicester City (@LCFC) April 28, 2018
CLAUDE: “The red card was harsh. It was a battle between two players, both making contact. It happened during a crazy five minutes with the injury to Ndidi that left the team so imbalanced. We needed to react in the second half and this scenario made it impossible.” #LeiCry
— Leicester City (@LCFC) April 28, 2018