Villans The Victors In Premier League Clash

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Villans The Victors In Premier League Clash

Leicester City started 2025 with a narrow 2-1 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

2025-01-04T17:00+00:00

by Matthew Temple

Published

04 Jan, 2025

from Villa Park

Villans The Victors In Premier League Clash

Leicester City started 2025 with a narrow 2-1 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

Matthew Temple

2025-01-04T17:00+00:00

Villans The Victors In Premier League Clash

Leicester City started 2025 with a narrow 2-1 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

Matthew Temple

2025-01-04T17:00+00:00

Villans The Victors In Premier League Clash

Leicester City started 2025 with a narrow 2-1 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

Matthew Temple

2025-01-04T17:00+00:00

Villans The Victors In Premier League Clash

Leicester City started 2025 with a narrow 2-1 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

Matthew Temple

2025-01-04T17:00+00:00

Goalless at the break, the goals were saved for the second half at Villa Park. First of all, Ross Barkley gave Villa the lead, before Stephy Mavididi finished off a Leicester counter attack to draw the sides back level after an hour played. However, substitute Ian Maatsen set up Leon Bailey for the winner on a brisk January afternoon.

A fifth consecutive loss for the Foxes, since drawing 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion in early December, they will now be looking to use an Emirates FA Cup Third Round fixture next Saturday afternoon (2pm GMT kick-off) against QPR to regain some confidence and momentum, before their return to top flight action. Ruud van Nistelrooy made two changes to the line-up that put in a valiant performance against champions Manchester City, with Facundo Buonanotte and Victor Kristiansen making way for the returning Jordan Ayew, following his suspension, and Luke Thomas. Centre-back Wout Faes also made his 100th appearance for the Club from the bench.

Trying to find a way through.

After a slow start to the game, the first chance fell to the hosts 13 minutes in, when a low cross from Matty Cash was turned goalwards by Ollie Watkins, who was filling the void left by Jhon Duran, but Conor Coady was there with an important block to turn the ball away from City's goal. Leicester seemed to look fairly confident in the game over the first half an hour, holding the majority of possession but failing to penetrate the hosts' backline. The next opening coming for the Villans, when another low ball into the City penalty area was bravely defended by Jannik Vestergaard, moments before Bilal El Khannouss fired over from range at the other end. The last piece of action in the half saw Jakub Stolarczyk called into action for the first proper time, when Cash's powerful strike from outside the box stung the gloves of the Polish 'keeper, who managed to deal with the danger.

With both sides needing to create more, the former Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans had the first shot on target following the restart, but a low effort was once again well-collected by Stolarczyk. The Foxes' best opportunity that far then presented itself when Mavididi fired wide from 15 yards out, after a teasing ball into the box was collected by El Khannouss, who set up the winger's effort. The game's first goal did eventually come just before the hour-mark when a header out of the box from Vestergaard was collected and fired into the bottom left-hand corner by Barkley.

Stephy Mavididi levelled things up after Ross Barkley's opener.

However, it only took van Nistelrooy's side five minutes to get back level again as Mavididi found the net from close range. After a great run up the right wing from Ayew, the Ghanaian sent in a teasing ball into the box which Jamie Vardy directed goalwards. Although Emi Martinez was there to make the stop, he could only parry it into the path of the No.10, who made no mistake.

With less than 15 on the clock, Villa regained the lead; a loose ball from James Justin intercepted by Maatsen, who picked out Bailey five yards out to capitalise on a Leicester mistake. With time running out, the Villans could've extended their lead with three big chances in a matter of seconds. Bailey ran in on goal and was first to strike, hitting the crossbar from inside the box, before Emiliano Buendia's shot was well-blocked by Caleb Okoli; the sigh of relief from Leicester then came when the ball was finally fired over by Watkins. It was a tense ending to the game, but one that saw no further changes to the scoreline, as Leicester start 2025 inside the bottom three on 14 points.

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