Leicester City could be without five players for Preston North End clash including Tom Cannon

Leicester City could be without five first team players in Wednesday night’s clash against Preston North End.

The Foxes sit top of the Championship having won eight of their nine games - the only defeat coming at home to Hull City. Enzo Maresca’s men beat Blackburn Rovers 1-4 away from home on Sunday and PNE provide the relegated side’s next test. North End occupy third spot in the league but are looking to bounce back from Saturday’s thrashing at home to West Brom.

Leicester lost stars James Maddison and Harvey Barnes in the summer, but retained plenty of the squad which came down from the top flight. Jamie Vardy, Wilfred Ndidi, Ricardo Pereira, Wout Faes, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and co are all playing their part in the Foxes’ Championship campaign, along with ex-PNE loan man Stephy Mavididi.

Maresca will, though, head into the upcoming midweek encounter a couple of bodies down. Centre-back Jannik Vestergaard picked up his fifth yellow card of the season on Sunday and will now serve a one-match suspension, which could pave the way for Conor Coady to make his first league start for Leicester.

Elsewhere, Kasey McAteer is expected to miss out after the academy graduate pulled up with a hamstring issue - 15 minutes after coming on as a substitute at Ewood Park. On-loan Manchester City defender Callum Doyle is sidelined for three to four months with a knee injury, while midfielder Dennis Praet is also unavailable for a similar period of time.

And Tom Cannon, who signed for Leicester on transfer deadline day for a reported £7.5million fee, will not face his old club on Wednesday night. Cannon - who scored eight goals on loan in the second half of last season for Preston - has suffered a stress fracture in his back. The forward has not started training with the first team yet.