Youri Tielemans could be in contention to return to the Leicester City squad for their trip to Aston Villa after making good progress in his recovery from injury.

The Belgian midfielder has missed City’s last three games in all competitions after picking up a calf injury in the final match before the November international break, a 1-1 draw with Leeds.

But they may not have to get by without him for much longer with the 24-year-old back out on the pitches at Seagrave, albeit working with the sports science and medical teams, rather than his team-mates.

He won’t be able to play against Southampton in midweek, but may be pushing for involvement when City travel to Villa Park next weekend, with Brendan Rodgers to assess him later in the week.

City then travel to Napoli for their final Europa League group game a week on Thursday, when they will need a point to go through, and so Tielemans may be prioritised for that fixture.

Asked for an injury update ahead of his side’s trip to the south coast, Rodgers said at his pre-match press conference: “The squad will be pretty much similar to yesterday (against Watford).

“We’ll see where Youri is at the back end of the week. He’s progressing really well. I saw him out on the pitch with the rehabilitation team today and he looked very strong.

“We’ll assess that as the week goes through, but it’s probably going to be more towards the end of the week.”