Aston Villa 1-2 Leicester City: Foxes climb to second with a close victory for Villa

Leicester City rose to second place in the Premier League table with a close 2-1 victory at Aston Villa.

Brendan Rodgers gave his team a task: take all three points. And they complied. From the moment the first whistle blew, the Foxes covered Villa with a brand of high-pressure soccer.

James Maddison opened the scoring after just 19 minutes with a low composite shot from range that got into the corner of the net, and the English international punished Villa who had given him too much time and space.

Harvey Barnes then added a second less than five minutes later. Emi Martinez could not hold back a venomous shot from Jamie Vardy from inside the area, which spilled into the way of Barnes, who reacted faster to crash the ball into the back of the net.

Aston Villa came out quickly in the second half and caught a goal through Bertrand Traore, the forward did well to reach the end of a Matt Targett cross and swept Kasper Schmeichel.

Despite Villa’s best efforts, they did not look the same without captain Jack Grealish, who was out with injury.

Leicester now have back-to-back home games with Slavia Prague arriving for their Europa League second leg mid-week before Arsenal’s visit to the league. Meanwhile, next for Villa is a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United.

No matter what Dean Smith says about other players having a chance when Jack Grealish is out, the fact remains that the midfielder turns Aston Villa into a different beast when he’s on the side. They have averaged 1.5 points per game in league competition when featured compared to 0.9 points per game without him, losing all three Premier League matches without the Englishman since the start of last season.

What a wonderful problem Gareth Southgate has on his hands as he plans this year’s European Championship. Sitting in the bleachers at Villa Park, he watched as Harvey Barnes ripped Aston Villa apart with runs behind the baseline, displaying limitless energy and vision to see a teammate in space. Surely the young winger will be in contention with displays like the one he put on today.

Aston Villa: Martínez 6, El Mohamady 6, Konsa 6, Mings 6, Targett 6, Douglas Luiz 6, McGinn 6, Traoré 7, Barkley 6, El Ghazi 6, Watkins 6. Subs: Trézéguet 5, Sanson 5, Ramsey N / A.

City of Leicester: Schmeichel 6, Ricardo Pereira 7, Evans 6, Söyüncü 6, Thomas 7, Tielemans 7, Class 6, Castagne 7, Maddison 8, Barnes 9, Vardy 7. Subs: Mendy 5, Choudhury N / A, Amartey N / A.

19 ‘- GOAL! Villa 0-1 Leicester (Maddison): Maddison shoves the ball into the corner of the net from range. Villa simply gave him too much space and has been punished for it.

23 ‘- GOAL! Villa 0-2 Leicester (Barnes): Barnes hits the ball into the back of the net while reacting quickly to a shot that is thrown by Martinez.

48 ‘- GOAL! Villa 1-2 Leicester (Traore): Traore reacts brilliantly quickly when he sets foot on Targett’s cross that bounced and bounced McGinn into the area before reaching him. That’s Villa’s first shot on goal.

59 ‘- SAVE! Martínez crosses quickly to push Maddison’s free kick to a corner

63 ‘- OPPORTUNITY! Vardy just dragged his shot off the post with a left-footed shot.

90 ‘+ 4 – OPPORTUNITY! Mings puts his head on the cross, but his head butt is off.