Fleetwood Town vs Leicester City LIVE: FA Cup third round!
Follow all the action from the third round tie at the Highbury Stadium
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Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the FA Cup third round tie between Fleetwood Town and Leicester City.
The game has been dubbed the 'Jamie Vardy derby' given the England striker's rise from then-non league Fleetwood up to the Foxes before firing them to the Premier League title and Champions League football.
However, all those gathered at Highbury will have to settle for seeing him in the stands rather than on the pitch as injury has prevented manager Claude Puel from including Vardy in the squad altogether.
Vardy's absence won't stop us though, so stick with us for minute-by-minute updates and don't touch that dial!
Follow all the live action below...
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Hello and welcome to our LIVE coverage of Fleetwood Town vs Leicester City in the third round of the FA Cup!
This was supposed to be Jamie Vardy's dream homecoming but he's been left out of the Leicester squad entirely.
The striker, who joined Leicester from Fleetwood for £1million in 2012, missed the New Year's Day win over Huddersfield through injury and is believed to still be carrying a knock.
The unavailable Jamie Vardy signs an autograph for a young Fleetwood Town supporter
Jamie Vardy isn't the only notable omission from the Leicester team to face Fleetwood.
Riyad Mahrez has also been left out of the matchday squad, which will only fuel speculation that he could be on his way from the King Power Stadium in January.
Reports in France today have linked the Algerian forward with a possible move to Liverpool.
Claude Puel has had this to say about Jamie Vardy, who misses out today through a groin injury:
“We gave him every chance to play, but he wasn’t able to train enough this week so we couldn’t risk him.
"After the Christmas period we have players that want to play and they will be focused on winning today.”
Pre-match quotes from Uwe Rosler
"The distance between the Premier League and the lower leagues is getting bigger and bigger, it's more unlikely that we'll have cup upsets.
"We want to play fearless, we want to play attacking but we know what threat Leicester will pose to us.
"It's the biggest game in the history of our football club."
Fleetwood manager Uwe Rosler is eyeing an FA Cup upset
Pre-match quotes from Claude Puel
"I've picked a team that I think can win the game. Knowing the fitness levels of my players after a Christmas period with four games in 10 days, it's important to have a solution.
"Of course we want to win this game, it's an important competition. We're playing against a young team and a good team who would like to make a shock."
Claude Puel has made eight changes to the side that beat Huddersfield on New Year's Day
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