Andy King is hopeful he will play again this season, but Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson does not know when the midfielder will return.

Pearson said King's heel injury was still being assessed and he could not put a time scale on when the Wales international will be back in action.

But he admitted it would be a number of weeks before he was fit again.

"He will be out for a while but, until it settles down, we don't know exactly how long," said Pearson.

"But it will be a matter of weeks, there is no doubt about that.

"It is unfortunate for him. He finished the game against Barnsley and the next day it developed into what it is in terms of how he felt.

"We are going to have to be prepared to miss him for a while."

Pearson added: "I hope he will be back later in the season but it would be wrong to put a time-scale on it.

"I can't give a definitive answer on how long. But it will be a number of weeks."

City will travel to St Mary's Stadium for this evening's clash with league leaders Southampton with a lengthy injury list.

Darius Vassell (knee) is out for the rest of the season and Pearson is also without Martyn Waghorn, Matt Oakley and Frank Moussa. He has also said that Michael Johnson is also not fit enough to play.

He also has an injury doubt over defender Aleksandar Tunchev, who has a groin problem.

"We have got what we have had before," said Pearson, who could name only six substitutes for the FA Cup replay with Nottingham Forest last Tuesday night.

"Whether Tunchev travels with us or not remains to be seen because he has a minor groin problem, but we will be operating with the same sort of group as last week."

Conrad Logan is likely to be named on the bench as City's substitute goalkeeper after returning from his loan spell at Rotherham United.

His return to the club follows Chris Weale's loan switch to Northampton Town on Friday.

Young goalkeeper Adam Smith has also been recalled from his loan at Lincoln City.

"Conrad has come back from a loan spell where he has had quite a lot of game time this season, while Chris has hardly had any game-time," explained Pearson.

"We felt it would be in his interest to go and get some games. That is why we have recalled Adam Smith back from Lincoln."