Is James Maddison playing today?

The Premier League is getting back into full swing now and there is a superb game to look forward to on Friday night as Liverpool welcome Leicester City to Anfield.

It will see Brendan Rodgers once again return to his former club and this time he will be desperate to head into 2023 off the back of a big win at one of the toughest places to go.

Liverpool have looked solid since the restart. They impressed in losing to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup and then comfortably beat Aston Villa 3-1 in their first Premier League game back. Leicester enjoyed a 3-0 win over MK Dons in the cup but were then easily beaten 3-0 at home by Newcastle in the league.

Many fans have been left wondering if James Maddison will be back in the team for the big clash.

Will James Maddison play against Liverpool?

Unfortunately for the travelling and watching Leicester City fans, Brendan Rodgers has ruled out any involvement from Maddison as he is still not fully fit and ready to help the team.

Instead, Maddison will be seeing a specialist about his knee as they seek to get to the bottom of what is causing the recurring injury that has hampered Leicester so much this season. They may also be without Dennis Praet who suffered an injury in the defeat against Newcastle.

Speaking during his press conference about what Leicester's plans are for the transfer window, Rodgers said: "I’ve always – in most of my teams – had two wingers that are fast, dynamic and can threaten the back line. I like speed in a winger.

"Left-back, it’s clear we need somebody to come in. We’ve only obviously got Luke (Thomas) who can come in the other side. I also think in positions we need profile, we need a bit more stature in the team and that’s something we’ll look at as well, covering the positions.

"Centre-half, you certainly need stature and profile to play in that position, so I think the stature of the team we can increase, but certainly the power and speed along the front line is very important for any team of mine."

James Maddison at the 2022 Qatar World Cup

James Maddison was a slightly surprising inclusion in the England squad for the 2022 Qatar World Cup given he was only just coming back from a serious injury and was not expected to play many minutes.

As things turned out, he never set foot on the pitch in Qatar and it effectively became a warm-weather training camp for the Leicester player away from his teammates.

Despite Leicester being in awful form for much of the Premier League season, Maddison has managed to rack up seven goals and four assists in the 13 games he has taken part in. The bulk of these came as form improved for the Foxes shortly before the World Cup break, which ultimately led to Gareth Southgate taking him to Qatar.

They now sit 13th in the table and look to have turned things around to the extent where relegation is no longer a serious fear.

Liverpool predicted lineup vs Leicester

Liverpool Starting 11 (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Nunez, Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Bench: Kelleher, Gomez, Phillips, Tsimikas, Bajcetic, Keita, Carvalho, Elliott, Doak.

Leicester predicted lineup vs Liverpool

Leicester Starting 11 (4-1-4-1): Ward; Castagne, Amartey, Faes, Thomas; Soumare; Perez, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall, Barnes; Vardy.
Bench: Iversen, Soyuncu, Vestergaard, Mendy, Ndidi, Albrighton, Iheanacho, Daka, Braybrooke.

Source : 90min