Aston Villa vs Leicester Preview, Team News, Key Stats and Prediction - originally posted on Sportslens.com
Aston Villa and Leicester City will battle it out at Villa Park on Tuesday night for a place in this season’s EFL Cup final. These two Midlands clubs played out a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium three weeks ago.
The Villans are looking for their first appearance in a cup final for a decade, whilst Leicester haven’t reached one for 20 years – last winning this competition in 2000. You can watch this and other League Cup games live online here.
Heading into the second leg, there are 23 points between these two clubs after 24 games in the Premier League this season – the Foxes sit third in the table on 48 points, whilst Aston Villa sit narrowly above the relegation zone on 25 points.
The visitors were heavy odds-on favourites to win the first leg in 90 minutes but were tactically outclassed by a very defensive setup by Dean Smith. Leicester will travel to Villa Park as odds on favourites again, with Betfair pricing them at 1.74 to win in 90 minutes.
Leicester ran out emphatic 4-1 winners in the Premier League when these two met at Villa Park in early December so fans may be confident on Brendan Rodgers’ side booking their place into the 2019-20 EFL Cup final in 90 minutes.
Aston Villa vs Leicester Team News
The home side are without goalkeeper Tom Heaton and striker Wesley for the remainder of the season. Both had already been ruled out ahead of the first leg.
Since that meeting three weeks ago, Villa have signed experienced goalkeeper Pepe Reina on loan for the remainder of the season. The Spaniard has started their last two Premier League games.
Midfielder John McGinn has been out for over a month with an ankle injury and will not make his return in this one.
Striker Jonathan Kodjia was sold last week so Dean Smith will be limited with options up front. He may go with Anwar El Ghazi leading the line in a defensive 3-4-3 formation again.
Jamie Vardy will be back in the Leicester City squad after missing the weekend’s FA Cup tie at Brentford over the weekend. The striker had picked up a twinge during the Premier League game against West Ham United a week ago. The Leicester boss has confirmed the former England international is about 80% fit and will be included.
Nampalys Mendy had only recently returned to the first team before picking up a knee injury against the Hammers last week to rule him out of this tie.
Predicted Aston Villa Starting Lineup (3-4-3): Pepe Reina; Ezri Konsa,Tyron Mings, Kortney Hause; Frederic Guilbert, Douglas Luiz, Marvelous Nakamba, Neil Taylor; Trezeguet, Anwar El Ghazi, Jack Grealish
Predicted Leicester Lineup (4-1-4-1): Kasper Schmeichel; Ricardo Pereira, Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu, Ben Chilwell; Hamza Choudhury; Ayoze Perez, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes; Kelechi Iheanacho
Aston Villa vs Leicester Key Stats
2 – Kelechi Iheanacho has scored in both previous meetings between these two teams this season.
7 – Aston Villa are without a clean sheet in their last seven games in all competitions, conceding 15 during this run.
23 – There are 23 points between these two sides in the Premier League, with Leicester in 3rd and Aston Villa down in 16th.
Aston Villa vs Leicester Prediction
Leicester City had been going through a tough run prior to back-to-back wins against West Ham United and Brentford and I expect them to progress to the final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 1 March.
Aston Villa put in one of their best performances of the season in the first leg but have struggled for consistency this season. Their defence continues to be very leaky.
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