VARDY MUST BE ON FIRE – City v Villa Match Preview

BY SIMON MACK

Leicester City vs Aston Villa

Monday 9^th March 2020 8pm

King Power Stadium

The foxes meet cup heart breakers Aston Villa on Monday night in a league encounter that they will hope will bring them 3 points for the first time in over a month.

Aston Villa’s last match was the Carabao Cup final in which having cruelly defeated the foxes to get there suffered defeat to Manchester City, and prior to that their last victory was against Leicester in the cup semi-final. To find their last win in the league you have to look back to the same weekend as the foxes with a 2-1 victory back on the 21^st January. Since then defeats to Bournemouth, Tottenham and Southampton have left them in 19^th place in the relegation zone but the bottom of the table is tight and their two games in hand over their rivals could see them climb to 15^th spot 4 points clear of the drop if the villans secured maximum points.

With results going their way over the weekend a win at King Power Stadium would see villa lift themselves out of the bottom three but if they are to achieve the win it will be without the help of midfielder John McGinn who remains on the road back from a foot problem. Forward Wesley Moraes remains out for the season with cruciate ligament trouble along with goalkeeper Tom Heaton who has a similar issue. James Maddison’s drinking buddy Jack Grealish cramped up last time out in the cup defeat but has been ruled fit whilst keeper Jed Steer still has no return date from his long term problems.

Aston Villa Head Coach Dean Smith spoke optimistically prior to the midlands match up “”We have a great belief in ourselves, we can beat any of the last 11 teams we’ve got to play. “You only have to look at the results from last weekend to know all teams in the league are beatable.”

“It’s tough but we need to make sure we get the performances from the Tottenham and Manchester City games and not the Southampton game.” “The consistently in performances is what will get us the points in the bag.”

For Leicester City a spluttering, stuttering performance against championship opposition in the shape of Birmingham City last week didn’t give any inclination that their run of poor performances is over. Brendan Rodgers fielded a strong starting eleven yet his side failed to find the fluency in attack that had been so prevalent prior to the festive period. The foxes dominated the possession statistics but largely failed to make all that time with the ball pay and it wasn’t until late into the second half that Ricardo bravely headed the only goal of the game.

Since the 4-1 drubbing of West Ham in January Leicester have fallen to defeats to Manchester City and Norwich along with draws against Chelsea and Wolves in the league, but despite the abandonment of their winning ways city remain in 3^rd place and 5 points clear of Manchester Utd in 5^th spot. It’s beginning to feel more urgent for Leicester to find their form again if Champions League football is to be attained and as the final hurdles of the 19/20 season approach Manager Brendan Rodgers said “We’re sat in a fantastic position at this stage of the season.” “I think because of the level of consistency and how the players have worked and played over the course of this season, we’ve had a little bit of a blip going back for a few games.”

“I know it’s only a matter of time before we’ll go back to being consistent again, because we focus very much on being optimistic within the team.”

And Rodgers optimism going into Monday night will be further bolstered by the news that Jamie Vardy should be fit to play at least some part in the midlands tussle. A focal point for the foxes attack was one of the gaping holes in the cup performance last week and his return should fill that void. In addition despite putting an ice pack the size of a house onto his knee when subbed off against the blues Wilfred Ndidi remains available for selection. The Nigerian didn’t quite look at his vintage best against Birmingham but with every game he plays you’d hope he’d sharpen back towards his outstanding best that made him stand out so wonderfully earlier on in the season. Left back Ben Chilwell is 50/50 for this one having felt his hamstring against the blues but Rodgers is optimistic on his chances of being available.

It feels like the time is now to put some points onto the board if this season is to see Leicester City schmooze amongst Europe’s elite next term. The villa game is followed by a banana skin trip to Nigel Pearson’s Watford and then a home test against Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton, and as the final 10 games of the foxes season are played out it will be a test of Rodger’s young talented squad to see just what is left in the tank and how much they can deliver in terms of performances to secure European football. With agents and clubs swirling around some of the city squad a top 4 finishing spot could stave off the temptation to leave for some but ultimately it is in their own hands, and despite the rumours of turned heads and done deals surely this highly skilled group would want to mark their hard work with a momentous achievement in Brendan Rodgers first full season in charge.

Leicester possible line up:

Schmeichel, Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu, Fuchs, Ndidi, Perez, Praet, Maddison, Barnes, Vardy

Aston Villa possible line up:

Reina, Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett, Nakamba, Luiz, Trezeguet, Grealish, El Ghazi, Samatta

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