Leicester City visit Villa Park to take on Aston Villa in a bid to maintain their push for the second spot, as they sit level with Manchester United in the third spot. Both teams have 46 points – ten behind leaders Manchester City who sit at the top with 56 points.
However, Villa will look to complete their first league double over Leicester since the 2003/04 campaign on the back of their 1-0 win at the King Power Stadium earlier in the season.
This time, we take a look at the Lions’ thumping at the hands of the Foxes back in the 2019/20 Premier League season, a fixture that marked Leicester’s biggest win at Villa Park since a 5-2 victory in the League Division One on November 6, 1954.
Brendan Rodgers’ men won their eighth consecutive match in the top division for the first time in history – beating a 56-year-old record that stood since March, 1963.
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An almost equal-footed first half
To begin with, the stadium paid tribute to Villa legend Ron Saunders, who passed away the day before the clash. He won a historic First Division title in 1981 with Villa, while also capturing the League Cup with the club in 1975 and 1977.
Leicester were off to a good start as Kelechi Iheanacho dribbled through the right wing to lay off James Maddision who saw his shot from close range saved by Villa defender Ezri Konsa, followed by a poorly connected volley by Jamie Vardy.
With relentless rain pouring down, the match got off to an exciting start and Villa were the first ones to get comfortable with possession. The 11th minute saw the home team strike the bar thanks to El Ghazi’s shot from the edge of the six-yard-box right in front of goal – a miss that would prove costly for Villa.
Vardy then opened the scoring with his eighth league goal in a row to put the Foxes ahead. Iheanacho opened the Villa midfield with a sublime panna before laying a beautiful through ball to Vardy, who rounded the goalkeeper only to see himself misfire – taking the second opportunity at hand to knock the ball in from close range.
In the 41st minute, Iheanacho tapped in comfortably from close range thanks to a wonderful cross in from Maddison from the left wing to double the advantage.
Four minutes later during stoppage time, Jack Grealish made no mistake in striking a thunderous low effort into the bottom right corner from inside the left-hand side of the box to give the hosts some hope.
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Leicester two-up Villa
A corner for the Foxes by Maddison in the 49th minute witnessed a towering header by veteran Jonny Evans, who was unmarked and struck a sweet effort to leave Villa goalkeeper Tom Heaton clearing the air just as the second half started as Leicester restored their two-goal lead.
Villa’s morale had taken a hit and Leicester made the most of it with repeated attacks and fixated possession on the ball. The home team did try to make a comeback as the hour mark approached, but to no avail.
Maddison had the chance to put the game to bed as he received the ball from Vardy just inside the 18-yard-box, only to fake it for the first time and then strike it just wide of Heaton’s right post. Harvey Barnes, then squandered another chance from right infront of goal by blasting the ball over the crossbar.
Vardy put the game to bed with a clinical finish from a Leicester break that saw Dennis Praet lob a perfect through ball in the line of the striker, who strode in to finish with utter ease for 4-1.
Tom Heaton kept Villa in the match as he made a couple of brilliant saves with his quick reactions, denying Caglar Soyuncu’s header with his face and saving one from Barnes at the death.
It was an entertaining match and more importantly a decisive performance by the likes of James Maddison and Jamie Vardy to knock in four goals. Villa Park’s strength of about 42,000 spectators were engaged in an upbeat display by Leicester City as they witnessed a sub-par showing from the home side.