Leicester City will appeal the red card shown to striker Jamie Vardy that threatens to keep the England international out of their entire festive programme after he was dismissed for a foul during Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Stoke, The Independent understands.

The reigning Premier League champions showed the same resilience that carried them to the title last season to battle back from two goals down and draw the match at the Bet365 Stadium, but they were made to do so without the services of Vardy.

The 29-year-old was shown a straight red card in the 28th minute after he was judged by referee Craig Pawson to have dived in two-footed on Stoke striker Mame Diouf in a reckless manner.

It’s understood that Leicester believe Vardy was forced into the challenge due to a push immediately before the tackle by Stoke right-back Glen Johnson, and Vardy’s manager, Claudio Ranieri, said afterwards that he did not feel a red card was merited because of the prior contact with his England teammate.

Leicester will make their case to the Football Association in an effort to have the striker’s three-match ban overturned. With the Foxes struggling this season down in 15th place, the loss of Vardy for the upcoming games against Everton, West Ham and Middlesbrough would hit them hard as they have shown signs of rediscovering their form from the successful 2015/16 campaign.

Ranieri’s options will also be hurt by the loss of Christian Fuchs and Robert Huth for the Boxing Day clash with Everton as the pair will serve a one-match ban each for picking up five yellow cards this season. Leicester already face FA action after they received six bookings on Saturday along with Vardy’s red card, with Danny Simpson, Islam Slimani, Andy King, Fuchs and Marc Alrighton all booked within nine minutes of each other and Huth also sanctioned three minutes after the restart.

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Ranieri may also face further action for gestures he made at half-time, though the Italian has insisted he meant nothing towards referee Pawson and was instead trying to keep the fans behind the team to try and structure a comeback. The FA may also take action against Leicester after Pawson and his three fellow match officials appeared to be targeted by coins and missiles from the a section of the away support as they made their way off the pitch at half-time.

Vardy was shown a straight red card by referee Craig Pawson (Getty)