Brendan Rodgers selected a different team from the one playing against Birmingham City in the FA Cup, but Marc Albrighton survived and got a rare chance in the Premier League, together with another player who has not played much, James Justin.
Kelechi Iheanacho was the one leading the line up front with Jamie Vardy as an alternative from the bench. Wilfred Ndidi got a well deserved start and what a performance from the player who has had a bit of troublesome start to the new year, battling a knee injury.
Leicester City were the better team from start and it looked as if they would get something out of this game and in real from previous meetings with Aston Villa this season, no one really doubts the quality of the team, but sometimes it doesn’t really lead to those fantastic goals.
But this afternoon a certain Pepe Reyna had decided to give Leicester City the ultimate chance to score a goal, running like a wild man out of his goal to try to catch Harvey Barnes who just took his chance, passed the Villa goalkeeper and with a wonderful finish it all looked so easy, but again, for those who would like to try, not easy at all.
To go off after first half with only one goal after so much possession and a great number of chances, seeing Kelechi Iheanacho and Caglar Soyuncu both coming close, you were of course satisfied after some great display, and great credit to James Justin and Marc Albrighton who both looked comfortable and really being among the best contributers.
To be 1-0 up is always an advantage and with a player like Jamie Vardy on the bench, you will not get it any better by being the opponent in these type of games. After 59 minutes it was time to introduce Vardy to the home fans and he was luckily on the pitch when Leicester City were given a penalty, from a Harvey Barnes cross that hit the arm of Tyrone Mings.
Jamie Vardy stepped forward and placed the penalty right in the middle of the goal, with Pepe Reyna going to the side and Leicester City were 2-0 up. Aston Villa pushed forward, but a great tackle and break from Johnny Evans resulted in a pass out wide to Jamie Vardy again who just sprinted forward and after two attempts made his day complete, scoring his 19th goal of the season, going top of the goalscoring chart in the PL again, and in total scored his 99th goal in the Premier League.
Leicester City looked as if they were going to score even more goals, with shots from Youri Tielemans and James Maddison going into the terraces, but when Marc Albrighton found Harvey Barnes with a wonderful pass after 85 minutes everything just became another fantastic day for Leicester City, scoring 4, conceding 0.
Great to see how Leicester City teared apart Aston Villa with fantastic football and great skills, watching a young James Justin doing the most out of his chances and really seeing how Harvey Barnes are progressing. Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi were both back and showed their importance to this team as well.
Leicester City are still 3rd in the table, 53 points, four points behind Man City, and hopefully this run will continue, with the next hurdle coming at Vicarage Road on Saturday against old accointances now at Watford, Nigel Pearson and Craig Shakespeare.
- Positives
- Winning, scoring four goals
- Albrighton’s influence, what a player on the ball
- Ndidi and Vardy back in the line-up
- Great football, Leicester City playing really well
- James Justin, what a talent, he can play both to the left and right
- Perfect again from Brendan Rodgers
- Negatives:
- Yellow cards, Praet and Evans
- Player Ratings: Schmeichel 6, Pereira 6, Justin 7, Evans 7, Soyuncu 6, Praet 6, Ndidi 8, Maddison 6, Iheanacho 6, Albrighton 7, Barnes 8 Subs: Vardy 8, Tielemans, Mendy
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Wilfred Ndidi
Match Stats (H/A):
- Possession: 65 / 35
- Corners: 9 / 0
- Shots on target: 7 / 1
- Fouls: 15 / 12
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