Premiership: Taylor confident over trio’s return

Leicester City manager Peter Taylor is confident that three of his leading players - Rob Savage, Muzzy Izzet and skipper Matt Elliott - will be fully fit for the start of pre-season training on July 9.

Elliott and Savage both required knee operations in the latter part of last season while Izzet was side-lined with a calf muscle injury.

The Foxes badly missed the services of the trio - plus another knee injury victim in Gerry Taggart - as they slid down the Premiership table via a run of eight successive defeats.

Taylor, who departs tomorrow for a holiday in Spain, said: ‘‘Things are looking good for Matt, Robbie and Muzzy to be ready for the start of pre-season.

‘‘Other clubs have bigger squads than us but even they would suffer if you took out so many key players at the same time.

‘‘The only one who is still doubtful to be ready for the start of pre-season is Gerry with his knee problem. That might take a little longer before it is fully right.’’

Taylor, who has relinquished his England duties to concentrate solely on managing Leicester, is upbeat about next season despite the disastrous finale to their last campaign.

He said: ‘‘I know some of our supporters are panicking because of what happened at the end of the season and think we are going to struggle next season.

‘‘I don’t agree with that at all. I think we are going to be stronger next season with the experience the younger players obtained.

‘‘I never thought people like Trevor Benjamin, Lee Marshall and Damien Delaney would get their chance as quickly as they did.

‘‘I know that if they keep on improving then we will have a very strong squad and we are also looking to bring in three more players before the start of the season.’’