Maddison claims Leicester issue ‘doesn’t get talked about’ like at Liverpool

Georginio Wijnaldum, James Maddison Leicester v Liverpool February 2021

Leicester midfielder James Maddison has offered a timely reminder that his side are suffering with an injury crisis similar to Liverpool’s.

Liverpool have suffered a remarkable drop-off in form from last season, which has led to their current struggles.

But while poor form is a key factor, the lack of vital first-team talent through injury has also played its part. The Reds have no senior centre-halves, with chief back-up Fabinho also sidelined.

What’s more, attacking back-up Diogo Jota has a knee injury. As such, James Milner’s hamstring problem made it 10 senior stars who are currently out of action.

However, speaking to BT Sport, Maddison pointed out that his side are also without a clean bill of health. Timothy Castagne, Denis Praet, Wesley Fofana and James Justin are all out.

“We have a lot of injuries, by the way,” England international Maddison said. “It doesn’t get talked about because we’re not the ‘Big Six’ but we are utilising the squad brilliantly.

“We are right up there and we’re not up there by fluke.”

Maddison was speaking after Leicester boosted their top-four hopes significantly by beating Liverpool 3-1.

Maddison.Leicester.TEAMtalk

The win pushed the Foxes six points clear of the Reds. More crucially now, though, they have also stayed ahead of Chelsea and West Ham, who could push Liverpool further down with wins of their own.

Jamie Vardy ended his recent goal drought with one of the easiest goals of his career. The Englishman was on hand to smash into the empty net after a mix-up between Alisson Becker and Ozan Kabak.

Maddison offers Vardy, Alisson assessments

Alisson Becker, Ozan Kabak Leicester v Liverpool February 2021

“That’s what Vardy does [cause problems], he picks up those opportunities,” the midfielder added.

“A mix-up between the centre-half and the goalkeeper and it’s just one of those things, I don’t think you can look too much into it.

“Alisson is obviously having a tough time at the moment, last game and that today, but he’s a top goalkeeper and I’m sure he’ll be back.”

Leicester‘s win was also important given that Brendan Rodgers’ men had lost 4-0 at the King Power Stadium to Liverpool last season.

“We know when we play Liverpool, it’s going to be tough because they can do both parts of the game really well, they can build and they can pass and they can be direct with [Mohamed] Salah and [Sadio] Mane running in behind,” he added.

“It’s a case of just staying in the game, we’re a top team now with good quality, so we know if we get chances, we can put them away and it showed because in 12 minutes we turned the game on its head.

“The games can change so quickly in the Premier League and the more they started going for it, it opened up more for the likes of [Harvey] Barnes with more space on the counter-attack, we utilised it brilliantly, I think.”

READ MORE: Carragher labels Thiago a ‘liability’