EPL: Foxes attack Villa

Leicester City vs.Aston Villa

Venue: King Power Stadium

Kick Off: 3PM

Having thrown away three points in dampening fashion in midweek, Leicester City return to the King Power Stadium for today’s Premier League battle with Aston Villa.

Brendan Rodgers’s side were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with Everton last time out, while Steven Gerrard’s side most recently went down 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur.

With a wave of first-string players back in the starting lineup after a painful late loss to Newcastle United, Leicester could not shake off the last-minute curse at Goodison Park, where Everton left it until the final few seconds to boost their survival bid in a 1-1 stalemate.

Harvey Barnes had taken all of five minutes to tap home and propel the Foxes into the ascendancy on Wednesday night, but in the second minute of added time in the second half, Richarlison’s scuffed effort nestled into the corner as Leicester pounded the ground in frustration.

Last-minute goals have now bedevilled Leicester twice in the space of a week, and any hopes of the Foxes returning to Europe via their league position are slim to none, with Rodgers’s ninth-placed side now 11 points adrift of seventh-placed West Ham United, albeit with two games in hand.

A top-seven finish may be a write-off at this point, and Leicester fans ought to care more about their side’s Conference League fortunes heading into the final few weeks of the season, with the first leg of their semi-final with Roma taking place on Thursday night.

For now, though, Leicester will set out to win their fourth Premier League game on the bounce at home, and they have lost just one of their last nine top-flight games at the King Power, which will host one of the biggest European nights in the club’s history five days after the visit of the Lions.

From winning three in a row with nine goals scored and zero conceded to suffering a four-game losing run in the Premier League, Aston Villa are in danger of being dragged into a surprise fight for survival should their downward slump continue for much longer.

Steven Gerrard’s side could not get past the impenetrable wall that was Tottenham Hotspur number one Hugo Lloris two weekends ago and ultimately shipped four to the free-scoring Lilywhites, who eased to victory through Son Heung-min’s hat-trick and Dejan Kulusevski’s effort.

A quartet of consecutive defeats has suddenly seen Aston Villa slump to 15th in the standings with seven games left to play in the 2021-22 season, but an 11-point chasm still separates them from the drop zone, so it would take something truly calamitous for the Lions to be playing Championship football next term.

Nevertheless, conceding nine goals and scoring just two in their spate of defeats is a serious cause for concern for Gerrard, whose side have not drawn a Premier League match away from home for over a year but would probably accept a solitary point at the King Power fortress.

Keeping with the theme of Leicester conceding last-minute goals, the forgotten man Ross Barkley propelled Villa to a late 1-0 win at the King Power last term, and the Lions are aiming for a first league double against the Foxes since the 2003-04 campaign after marching to a 2-1 success at Villa Park back in December.

Leicester City possible XI: Schmeichel, Justin, Amartey, Soyuncu, Castagne, Tielemans, Mendy, Albrighton, Maddison, Barnes, Daka.

Aston Villa possible XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Young, Ramsey, Luiz, McGinn, Coutinho, Watkins, Bailey.