Leicester suffer Barnes surgery blow

LEICESTER, England (Reuters) - A bad week for Leicester City got even worse as manager Brendan Rodgers said winger Harvey Barnes needs knee surgery and will be unavailable for six weeks.

The 23-year-old was carried off on a stretcher shortly after halftime in his side's 3-1 home defeat by Arsenal on Sunday.

"I just spoke to the doctor. That'll be a huge blow for us," Rodgers said. "It's not good news. He needs an operation.

"He'll be out for a minimum of six weeks. Part of the bone in his knee has come off, so he'll need it repaired.

"He's had niggles with it. We tried to recover him on Thursday but it's a bad one for him."

Barnes has been one of third-placed Leicester's most influential players this season and his absence will hurt them in their quest to nail down a place in the top four.

Sunday's double blow comes after Leicester were knocked out of the Europa League by Slavia Prague in midweek.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)