Kasper Schmeichel hails fellow Foxes for ‘chipping in’ for absent Jamie Vardy

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Kasper Schmeichel has hailed Leicester’s ability to cope without the injured Jamie Vardy.

The Foxes go to Newcastle on Sunday after Thursday’s dramatic late Europa Conference League comeback at PSV.

A 2-1 win, after goals in the last 13 minutes from James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira, earned a semi-final with Roma.

Maddison now has 14 goals in all competitions, eight in the Premier League, which is his best return for Leicester.

He is the Foxes’ top scorer with Vardy, who has been out for five weeks with a knee injury, on 12 while Patson Daka has 10 goals and Harvey Barnes has scored eight times.

Vardy has only made 18 league appearances this season but Schmeichel insisted they have been able to cover for his absence.

“When you are missing someone like Jamie Vardy you need goals from everywhere really. It is good to see everyone chipping in,” he said.

“You take Jamie out of any team and you would be able to feel it. Madders is a top player and everyone knows his quality.

“It is good to see he is producing on a regular basis because we need him. We need all our players to produce when we have the amount of injuries we have.

“We need everyone to be chipping in. Ade (Lookman), Ayo (Perez) and Patson came on in midweek and made a big difference.

“In any situation when you are behind you need your top players to take control of the game. We are lucky we have many players who can do that.”

Victory in Eindhoven gives Leicester momentum for the final run-in this season.

The Foxes are ninth in the Premier League, 11 points adrift of sixth-placed West Ham with three games in hand, but Schmeichel insisted they cannot think about catching the Hammers yet.

Schmeichel added: “We aren’t looking too high up the table.

“The next game in hand is Newcastle but winning is a habit and nights like Thursday can give you momentum.

“They are tough with the travelling but we are very happy it didn’t go to extra time.”