Two teams in need of a victory face off on Saturday when Champions League knockout stage hopefuls Aston Villa entertain Leicester City.
Villa looked to have turned a corner towards the start of December but ended 2024 on a run of just one win from four games, with that victory coming over a Manchester City side handing out three points like there’s no tomorrow… to everybody apart from Leicester.
Leicester ended the year with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s stuttering champions and enter this game having won just once since October.
Here’s 90min’s preview of the game.
Aston Villa vs Leicester H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Aston Villa |
Leicester |
|---|---|
|
Aston Villa 2-2 Brighton – 30/12/24 |
Leicester 0-2 Man City – 29/12/24 |
|
Newcastle 3-0 Aston Villa – 26/12/24 |
Liverpool 3-1 Leicester – 26/12/24 |
|
Aston Villa 2-1 Man City – 21/12/24 |
Leicester 0-3 Wolves – 22/12/24 |
|
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa – 14/12/24 |
Newcastle 4-0 Leicester – 14/12/24 |
|
RB Leipzig 2-3 Aston Villa – 10/12/24 |
Leicester 2-2 Brighton – 08/12/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
Radio commentary and updates on talKSPORT, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Leicester |
|
United States |
Peacock, SiriusXM FC |
|
Canada |
fuboTV CanadaFubo Sports Network 4 Canada |
Jhon Duran still has two more games left of his suspension to serve and is joined on the sidelines by Morgan Rogers, who was shown his fifth yellow card last time out and has a one-game ban to deal with.
Centre-back Pau Torres limped off injured and looks set for a spell on the sidelines, meaning a likely recall for Tyrone Mings.
Aston Villa predicted lineup vs Leicester (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Bailey, McGinn, Ramsey; Watkins.
Jordan Ayew has served his own one-match ban and should reclaim his spot in Leicester’s attack. There is also hope that defender Wout Faes could feature in some capacity after a spell out through injury.
Ricardo Pereira, Wilfred Ndidi, Abdul Fatawu and goalkeeper Mads Hermansen all remain unavailable.
Leicester predicted lineup vs Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Stolarczyk; Justin, Coady, Vestergaard, Kristiansen; Soumare, Winks; Buonanotte, El Khannouss, Ayew; Vardy.
Both sides might be struggling for form, but Aston Villa will be supremely confident of tallying up another three points here against a Leicester side who have struggled horribly at the back since Ruud van Nistelrooy took charge.
Working in Villa’s favour is their imperious home form – Unai Emery’s side are unbeaten in league action at Villa Park since August – so fans will rightly expect a comprehensive victory.
Ayew’s return is significant for Leicester but the Foxes are unlikely to have enough of the ball to benefit from his presence out wide.