Victor Kristiansen fitness latest after Leicester City left-back substituted on injury comeback

Leicester City left-back Victor Kristiansen was withdrawn as part of a pre-planned substitution at Crystal Palace to protect him from injury.

The young Dane made his return to the line-up in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat after missing the previous three games with an ankle problem. He played 60 minutes before being replaced by Luke Thomas.

The timing of the substitution, just after Palace’s equalizer, posed questions over whether Kristiansen had picked up an injury or was being taken off to avoid receiving a red card, having been booked in the first half. However, the change was simply to protect him, meaning he should be available to play against Aston Villa on Tuesday.

“It was planned,” manager Brendan Rodgers said. “He’s not been training so much. He’s got back in the past four or five days. We wanted to give him 55 minutes to an hour. His groins were tight and he was suffering. It was great to get him back onto the field again.”