Jamie Vardy will miss Burnley’s visit to Sincil Bank on Saturday, with a back problem ruling the striker out of the Championship clash.
That’s not the end of the visitors’ woes either; they have also lost Jacob Bruun Larsen for between 10 and 12 weeks with a stress fracture, further reducing their attacking options ahead of the trip to the Bank.
Vardy is a name Imps supporters will know well from his time with Leicester and England, but many will perhaps remember him from rather different circumstances, long before the Premier League title. He scored twice against us for Fleetwood Town in April 2012, dragging the promotion hopefuls back from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw at Highbury.
Jamie Taylor and Jefferson Louis had put City two up inside 20 minutes, only for Vardy to pull one back from a rebound before punishing hesitation in our defence for the equaliser. He might even have completed his hat-trick, missing when through on goal before Joe Anyon kept out a late header, as City were denied the victory that would have secured our Conference safety.
There will be no opportunity for him to trouble us again this weekend, with Burnley head coach Nicky Hayen outlining a lengthy list of injury concerns. Speaking to the Burnley Express, Hayen said nine players were affected, although there remains a possibility of Josh Cullen making the squad.
“We have nine injuries.
“I can give you all, if you see how many injuries we already had this season, with Bash [Humphreys], with Anel [Ahmedhodzic] now, Josh [Cullen] still injured, Hannibal, Aaron Ramsey.
“Now Jacob has a stress fracture for 12 weeks, Jamie is also out and then JB [Jaydon Banel] and Zeki [Amdouni], these are nine players that if you have them in the selection, you have a lot of solutions, but for the moment they’re not available.
“That’s really unfortunate, but that’s the situation.”
Cullen Could Still Feature
Cullen is scheduled to play 45 minutes for Burnley’s under-21s against West Ham on Friday, with his involvement helping determine whether he can be included against City the following day. The midfielder had been approaching a return before suffering a setback a fortnight ago.
“He’s quite close. So unfortunately he had a setback two weeks ago, because otherwise he would already be back.
“Now he will play tomorrow 45 minutes with the Under-21s and we’ll see how that game goes and if he can make the squad selection for Saturday.”
Banel could also feature in that under-21 fixture as he works towards his first appearance of the season. Hayen was encouraged by his progress, although his participation still needed to be agreed with the medical staff.
“He’s doing quite okay.
“I just have to see with the physios that he’s also involved tomorrow in the game for 45 minutes.
“He’s doing quite well and I’m looking forward for these guys to come back.”
Ahmedhodzic will miss Saturday’s game while completing the 10-day concussion protocol following Burnley’s meeting with Charlton Athletic. The defender is expected to be back in contention for their fixture against Portsmouth next week.
Burnley also have six senior players unavailable for selection after leaving them out of their 25-man squad. Ben Amos, Jordan Beyer, Shurandy Sambo, Mike Tresor, Ashley Barnes and Michael Obafemi were all omitted, restricting Hayen’s ability to turn to alternatives while his injury list remains lengthy.
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