Ben Dinnery

Mon 14 February 2022 18:40, UK

The decision to throw James Justin in at the deep end after his return from injury may have caused his latest setback at Leicester City.

That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.

Justin has started four out of five games since he returned from anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction last month.

Three of those starts came in the last eight days.

But the 23-year-old right-back was forced after half an hour in the eventual 2-2 draw with West Ham last night (13 February).

Per Leicestershire Live today (14 February), Brendan Rodgers revealed that Justin would be sent for a scan to assess damage to his hamstring.

But Dinnery argues that the situation could have been avoided entirely had the Foxes boss managed Justin more carefully.

“It’s not a massive surprise and it’s certainly not uncommon,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.

“We see high instances of soft tissue issues when players are coming back from long-term layoffs.

“Ideally, would Brendan Rodgers like to have managed his squad a little bit better? Quite possibly.

“He has basically been thrown back in there since he returned. The situation was impacted by Covid in the squad and a long, long list of injuries.

“The downturn in form may also have had an impact on starting Justin. That has ultimately led to another setback for the player.

“He played a tough game at Anfield and had 90 minutes there. In hindsight, maybe it was a risk that shouldn’t have been taken by Rodgers.”

Justin is one of five Leicester defenders currently sidelined through injury.

The Foxes are 11th in the league table after yesterday’s draw at the King Power.

In other news, Everton and Leicester City set sights on Alex Scott after transfer mission.