Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has hinted that the midweek clash against Everton could be postponed for the second time.
Everton are scheduled to welcome Leicester to Goodison Park on Tuesday night after the original meeting between the sides, on December 19, was called off.
The Foxes requested the postponement following a number of COVID-19 cases within their squad.
And after they kicked off their defence of the FA Cup with a 4-1 home victory over Premier League rivals Watford on Saturday, Rodgers seemed to suggest that his side may not be able play the rearranged fixture at Everton.
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Leicester fielded just eight senior players in the third-round win over Watford and were unable to name a full substitutes bench.
Luke Thomas, Boubakary Soumare, Timothy Castagne, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jamie Vardy, Jonny Evans, Ryan Bertrand, Caglar Soyuncu, Patson Daka, James Justin, Wesley Fofana, Ricardo Pereira and Filip Benkovic are all sidelined with an injury.
While Daniel Amartey, Papy Mendy, Wilfred Ndidi, and Kelechi Iheanacho are away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
That leaves the Foxes without 17 first-team players.
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And when asked if they could ask for the match against Everton to be postponed once again, Rodgers answered: “‘We’ve been stretched in terms of numbers and for the integrity of the competition we’ll assess where we’re at.
"You saw the squad and the team we had against Watford so we have to see where we are in terms of players and take it from there."
Premier League rules state that clubs must have 13 outfield plus a goalkeeper available to fulfil a fixture.
