Danny Drinkwater injury: Midfielder will be badly missed as Leicester are so much more than a two-man band

League leaders’ unsung players are as important as stars like Vardy and Mahrez

(2015 Getty Images)

Danny Drinkwater’s 15th-minute hamstring injury during Leicester City’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Monday slipped under the radar as Claudio Ranieri’s team produced one of their most stirring performances of the season to leave the champions just one point above the relegation zone.

Then again, Drinkwater’s run as one of five players who have started each of Leicester’s 16 Premier League games this season has also largely gone unnoticed beyond the King Power Stadium, with the spotlight understandably focusing on the goals of Jamie Vardy and the mesmeric brilliance of Riyad Mahrez.

Drinkwater’s ever-present status in the league is set to come to an end at Everton this Saturday, with the 25-year-old unlikely to overcome his strain in time for the trip to Goodison Park, and his loss will be keenly felt by Ranieri’s side.

For players whose contribution often goes without due credit, the games when they are not there tend to tell the story of their importance.

Leicester’s rise to the top of the Premier League is a remarkable story, with echoes of Wimbledon’s rise to prominence in the late-1980s due to the waif-and-stray nature of Ranieri’s squad.

There are also similarities to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest, who won the First Division championship in 1977-78 in the club’s first season back in the top division following promotion from the second tier 12 months earlier.

Leicester’s emergence is slightly different, in that the club found its footing in the Premier League last season by mounting a dramatic late run of form to avoid relegation, but for anyone believing that their status at the summit of English football is a fluke attributable merely to Vardy and Mahrez enjoying the form of their lives, look again.

Drinkwater is being spoken of as a potential England international, having formed a fine midfield partnership with N’Golo Kanté, the 24-year-old Parisian who arrived in a £5.6m summer transfer from Caen, but the former Manchester United youngster spent three years doing the hard yards in loan spells at Huddersfield, Cardiff, Watford and Barnsley before being handed his opportunity at Leicester in 2012.

Kasper Schmeichel, Wes Morgan, Robert Huth and Marc Albrighton make up Leicester’s quintet of ever-present Premier League starters and each has a similar story to tell.

Schmeichel has turned out for Darlington, Bury and Falkirk while attempting to live up to the family name in goal, Morgan gave a decade of lower league service to Forest and Huth and Albrighton have both settled down at Leicester having been deemed surplus to requirements at Stoke and Aston Villa respectively.

Ranieri’s experience, combined with his readiness to trust his players to be bold, has helped raise Leicester to another level following Nigel Pearson’s surprise departure as manager in the summer.

But within the club, much of the credit for the team’s rise is being placed at the door of Steve Walsh, Leicester’s head of recruitment.

Walsh spent 16 years scouting for Chelsea – he worked alongside Ranieri at Stamford Bridge – before working under his ally Pearson at Hull and Leicester.

He identified the potential of Vardy while the forward was playing for Stocksbridge Park Steels in Sheffield before convincing Leicester to spend £1m to lure him from Fleetwood in 2012. And he is credited with spotting Mahrez, the Algeria winger, during a scouting trip to Le Havre. But he has also encouraged the recruitment of the likes of Drinkwater, Morgan and Huth at times when other clubs had turned their attentions elsewhere.

Drinkwater’s progress, Morgan’s development into a commanding Premier League centre-half and the resurrection of Danny Simpson’s top-flight career have been key elements in Leicester’s rise up the table.

Their team ethic, which was in direct contrast to the fractured spirit of Chelsea’s players on Monday evening, enables the likes of Vardy and Mahrez to take the plaudits without gripes from elsewhere, but there is little doubt that Ranieri’s lesser-known players are as crucial to the Leicester story as their match-winners.

“Without quality you can do nothing,” Ranieri said. “But I think our strength is our spirit. It’s a magical time, but we must continue to work hard because I don’t want to wake up, I want to continue to dream with our fans.”

He added: “I told my players, five more points and we are safe [from relegation]. When we achieve 40 points, we will change our goal.”

Leicester could achieve that target over the festive period, with back-to-back trips to Merseyside to face Everton and Liverpool next up. But having lost just once in the league all season, the time has come for Ranieri’s team to be taken seriously.

Perhaps the wheels will buckle when Leicester begin to shoulder the burden of expectancy, but there has been no sign of it so far.

They possess a good goalkeeper, an improving defence and an impressive midfield axis of Drinkwater and Kanté, but the stardust is sprinkled by Vardy and Mahrez. It is too simple, though, to suggest that Leicester’s hopes lie with two players who, Ranieri insists, “no one can buy” .

Huth will be suspended at Everton and Drinkwater injured, so Leicester will face a test of their credentials.

Albrighton said: “Two or three weeks ago, we were told we had a tough run of fixtures playing Manchester United, Swansea and Chelsea, and we’ve come out of that with seven points. Everyone is waiting for us to slip up, but we can’t see where our next loss is coming from.”