Injury briefing: Jack Grealish is back for Aston Villa

Gaffer tracker

Brendan Rodgers - Leicester

Brendan Rodgers left Celtic after suggesting there wasn't much scope for further improvement but he may soon encounter similar problems at Leicester, the club he joined this week.

Rodgers watched on from the stands as Leicester won 2-1 at home to Brighton on Tuesday, reigniting their challenge for a top seven finish.

Should he conjure up a victory at seventh-placed Watford on Sunday he will have every chance of steering the Foxes into Europe by the end of the season.

But, beyond targeting seventh place on a regular basis and mounting a challenge in domestic cups, it is hard to see what he can achieve with his new club.

Leicester famously won the title in 2016-17 but that has created a new set of problems with expectations becoming unrealistically high.

The Foxes' title-winning campaign was highly unusual as almost all of the big six underperformed but stranglehold that the cash-rich elite hold has been firmly re-established.

No club from outside the big six has registered a top-six finish since Leicester won the league and the gap between the heavyweights and the rest seems to be getting wider.

Rodgers went close to winning the title with Liverpool in 2014 and has done all he could at Celtic, collecting two league titles, two Scottish Cups and three Scottish League Cups.

His desire to get back into English football is understandable but he may find it difficult to satisfy the hopes and dreams of his new paymasters.

Injury briefing

1 Jack Grealish is back for Aston Villa

Jack Grealish is nearing his long-awaited return from a shin injury and could make his first appearance for almost three months when Aston Villa host Derby this weekend.

The 23-year-old hasn't featured since a 2-2 draw at West Brom in early December, which left Villa eighth – four points outside the Sky Bet Championship playoffs.

Since then Villa have slipped to 13th and are eight points outside the top six.

Grealish's return is a welcome boost but may not be the magic bullet Villa fans are hoping for.

This season Villa have averaged 1.52 points per game with Grealish in the side, appreciably more than the average of exactly one point per game without him.

But Villa will need to average more than two points per game in the remaining 12 games to get anywhere near the playoffs.

And they have a few other problems with regular right back Alan Hutton (medial ligament strain) sidelined for several weeks and key midfielder John McGinn completing a two-game ban.

2 Pompey facing centre-back shortage

Portsmouth will soon return to Wembley for the first time since the 2010 FA Cup final but the south coast side's 3-0 success at Bury in Tuesday's EFL Trophy semi-final came at a cost with centre-back Christian Burgess suffering an ankle injury towards the end of the game.

Burgess was unable to continue and is not expected to recover in time for tomorrow's Sky Bet League One clash at home to Bradford.

Central defence is an area where Pompey do not have many options and they were already without long-term absentee Jack Whatmough (knee), who is unlikely to feature again this season.

Holding midfielder Tom Naylor dropped into defence for the last few minutes at Bury and looks the likely player to fill Burgess's boots, although versatile centre-forward Oli Hawkins is another option.

However, Naylor is a key player in the centre of the park and moving him could destabilise Portsmouth at a time when they desperately need to put points on board.

Portsmouth have not won in their last eight league games and have slipped five points outside the automatic promotion places.

3 Doncaster dented by double injury blow

Doncaster are another of the League One promotion-chasers going through a sticky patch.

Sixth-placed Rovers lost 2-0 at Shrewsbury on Tuesday, extending their winless sequence to three games, and that was not the end of their misery because central defender Tom Anderson was forced off with a head injury in the 27th minute.

Midfielder Herbie Kane (groin) was unavailable to face the Shrews after suffering an injury in training and the loss of two key players seemed to have a major influence with Doncaster falling well below their usual high standards.

Donny manager Grant McCann is hopeful that Kane's injury, which he has been managing for a while, is not too serious but Anderson showed symptoms of concussion, making it highly unlikely he will feature in tomorrow's vital clash at home to fifth-placed Charlton.

4 Swindon's Michael Doughty to miss a month

Swindon have quietly sneaked into the race for Sky Bet League Two playoff places but their promotion hopes have been dealt a blow by the news that star midfielder Michael Doughty faces up to four weeks on the sidelines.

Doughty suffered a hamstring strain during the build-up to last Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to Grimsby and missed out, as did first choice goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux (shoulder).

Vigouroux's loss is not such a major issue because Swindon's back up keeper, Luke McCormick, is vastly experienced, but Swindon have no natural replacement for Doughty, who is their top scorer this season with 12 goals.

Swindon manager Richie Wellens said: "It is not great as he has probably been one of our best players in the last four or five games.

"He is a goal threat, he is very composed on the ball and he can create chances, so he is a massive loss for us."

5 Tyler Walker ban obstructing Mansfield promotion hunt

Mansfield's top scorer Tyler Walker had a mixed day against Forest Green last Saturday, scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 success before receiving a red card in injury time.

Walker misses the next two matches, starting with this weekend's match at home to Cheltenham, and will be a huge loss.

The Nottingham Forest loanee tops the Stags' scoring charts with 17 league goals and there are a shortage of suitable replacements with strikers Craig Davies (ankle) and Danny Rose (broken jaw) injured.

Nicky Ajose looks a likely candidate to lead the line but has scored just once in seven appearances since signing on loan from Charlton in January.

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