Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers admitted his side felt the absence of Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi as the Foxes slipped to defeat against Leeds.
However, Rodgers is confident of signing a midfielder before Monday night’s transfer deadline and addressing that lack of strength in depth in his squad.
Top scorer Vardy missed a second match as he recovers from hernia surgery, while Ndidi was absent after suffering a slight hamstring tear in midweek. Both players are set to be out for around another two weeks, during which time the Foxes could play another three Premier League matches, including hosting Liverpool at the King Power Stadium, and their FA Cup fifth-round tie against Brighton.
Against Leeds, Leicester lacked physicality, by Rodgers’ own admission, and the threat in behind the defence that Vardy offers.
They led through Harvey Barnes’ strike but an immediate reply from Stuart Dallas and second-half goals from Patrick Bamford and Jack Harrison sealed a 3-1 victory for Leeds.
“I think we’ve been on a fantastic run and it was always going to come to an end at some point. We weren’t quite ourselves today, but you also have to give Leeds credit and they deserved to win,” said Rodgers.
“I think you could see that there were certain moments where we missed those two players (Vardy and Ndidi), they are quality for us. There were areas we needed more physicality, but we have won games without these two players.
“When they are not available we have to find other ways to cope with that and throughout the season we have done that and found ways to get results. Today, we could have defended better, we gave away poor goals and we didn’t take our chances.