Foxes Thrash Villa! Report by Simon Mack

Leicester City 4 Aston Villa 0

Monday 9^th March 2020 8pm

King Power Stadium

‘And as if by magic the old Leicester City appeared’ as the foxes found their form once again to trounce relegation threatened Aston Villa 4-0 on a rain soaked evening at King Power Stadium.

Brendan Rodgers shuffled the Premier League pack as Marc Albrighton retained his place in the starting eleven having been selected against Birmingham City in the Fa Cup last week whilst a surprise choice was James Justin at left back in the place of the injured Ben Chilwell.

As Youri Tielemans continued from the bench and fellow Belgian Dennis Praet carried on in his place the match got underway with both sides having attacking opportunities and as Jonny Evans and Kelechi Iheanacho both went close the foxes determination to force themselves onto their opponent gradually took hold of the match. As a villa attack broke down on the edge of the city box Kelechi Ihanacho won the ball back deep in his own half and played a short pass to Marc Albrighton who got clear of the desiring pack and fired a long looping ball left into the path of an onrushing Harvey Barnes. Barnes strode forward with the ball and in an insane rush of madness villa’s veteran goalkeeper Pepe Reina came to meet Barnes in a move that was always set to fail and with one decisive touch of the ball Barnes was free of the villa stopper and the open goal in front of him soon found the ball within it.

The deadlock breaking goal had taken almost all of the 1^st half to materialise and the work city had done to warrant the lead was continued in the second half in more dominant fashion. Kelechi Iheanacho was replaced with the fit again Jamie Vardy on the hour and almost immediately after Harvey Barnes played a one two with Dennis Praet on the half way line and drove ruthlessly forward down the pitch and into the box and his resulting cross was about to find the newly inserted Vardy unmarked in the box when villa centre half Tyrone Mings desperately threw himself at the ball and his upper arm deflected the ball’s trajectory with Michael Oliver awarding a penalty. VAR upheld the on field call and as Reina in the visitor’s goal informed Vardy he was going down the middle that’s exactly what the city front man did and the lead was doubled with Vardy’s first kick of the ball.

Fifteen minutes later the game was beyond reasonable doubt as Barnes broke forward once again and as Vardy cleverly held his run to remain on side Barnes delivered him the ball and the foxes front man drove ruthlessly into the box then tried to cut the ball back to Barnes. But as the melee of Villa defenders attempted to block the pass the ball fell back into Vardy’s path and he rifled it into the corner of the net past a helpless Reina.

With the game beyond doubt Youri Tielemans came into the game for the booked Dennis Praet and Nampalys Mendy came on for Wilfred Ndidi and as the foxes began to toy with their beaten opponent Tielemans and Albrighton worked well to the right of the box and the former villa man’s perfectly weighted cross found Harvey Barnes centrally who smashed the ball home to make the final score a rout at 4-0.

The foxes had found their form once again in a match that they had warmed into with hard work and determination to ensure that finally this was to be their night to restore their top 4 challenge. Brendan Rodgers inclusion of James Justin and Marc Albrighton had been fully vindicated as both put in superb performances. Wilfred Ndidi looked somewhere close to his best and Jamie Vardy’s brace from the bench proved the city legend was back to scoring ways. But on the night the MOTM and stand out performance was that of Harvey Barnes who not only broke the deadlock when city had been banging at the door for some time but moreover was persistent in his drive forward with the play and was a brilliant thorn in the villa side all evening.

On this form Leicester City are fantastic to watch but an absolute nightmare to play against and if the Premier League needed a reminded as to why the foxes are 3^rd in the table and banging on the Champions League door then this was it. Post-match a relived Brendan Rodgers extoled his delight at his charges recollection of all that is good about their 19/20 season, and with Watford and Brighton next up in the league the coming weeks form a fantastic opportunity to cement their current status on solid footings.