Rodgers speaks out on Leicester vs Newcastle amid rising Covid cases

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers insists he "won't find excuses" following a Covid outbreak among his squad.

The Foxes were without seven first-team players for their final Europa League group game against Napoli on Thursday.

Kelechi Iheanacho, Ayoze Perez, Jannik Vestergaard, Daniel Amartey, Ademola Lookman, Filip Benkovic, and Vontae Daley-Campbell all missed the crucial clash due to illness or Covid-related reasons.

Three members of Rodgers' backroom staff also missed the European tie.

Leicester went on to suffer a narrow 3-2 defeat in Naples, knocking them out of the competition. Their European journey will continue in the Europa Conference League after Christmas.

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Rodgers was keen to play down the worrying situation at the King Power when asked by reporters after the Napoli defeat.

Leicester's next game is against Premier League rivals Newcastle at home on Sunday afternoon.

"I want the players to play," responded Rodgers. "We won't find excuses unless we get to an absolutely critical stage.

"We want to play football games. We will recover, and look to get back out there on Sunday. We won't have any of those who didn't make this trip [to Naples].

"It will be the same squad. We have been as vigilant as we can. That is the nature of the virus. We will look to do everything we can to keep football playing.

"The one thing I will say about us as a club is we've always been vigilant. The club has been amazing. Before we arrived out here, in the space of a couple of days, we had three tests.

"We had two tests on Tuesday and a test yesterday and will get back and have a test tomorrow, so there is every measure they put in place, especially by the Premier League clubs and ourselves."

Leicester are not the only English club with Covid worries. Tottenham were forced to postpone their Europa Conference League game against Rennes on Thursday.

Spurs have also had to delay their next Premier League fixture against Brighton, which was scheduled to take place this Sunday.

"It's eight players and five members of staff but the problem is that every day we are having people with Covid," said Tottenham manager Antonio Conte.

"People that yesterday weren't positive, today are positive and we continue to have contact with people we think are negative but the day after they become positive.

"This is a serious problem. Everyone is a bit scared because we have family and [we ask], 'Why I have to take this risk? Why?' This is my question.

"Tomorrow, who [will be positive]? Me? I don't know. Maybe.

"Better me than a player for sure but I think that it is not right for everyone because we have family and contact with them when we come back home.

"Football is the most important thing but today to speak about football is impossible. There are situations that made me very upset."