Our Cup Experiences Will Benefit Us, Says Evans
- Jonny Evans previews Leicester City’s Carabao Cup Semi-Final first leg tie against Aston Villa on Wednesday (8pm kick-off)
- The Northern Ireland defender scored against Dean Smith’s side at Villa Park in December
- Live coverage of the game will begin at 5pm on LCFC Radio
Dean Smith’s outfit, who beat Liverpool 5-0 in the quarter-finals at Villa Park in December, visit Filbert Way for the first of two semi-final encounters with the Foxes on Wednesday (8pm kick-off).
Evans, who scored against Everton in the last round of the Carabao Cup, and also headed home at Villa Park during the 4-1 Premier League win, says Leicester are aiming to carry an advantage into the second leg, which takes place on 28 January.
“It’s one we’re all really, really looking forward to,” Evans told LCFC TV. “We’ve progressed in the tournament and we’ve had two penalty shootouts, so it’s been tricky and difficult at times.
“We’ve managed to come through it, and I think that will benefit us going into the semi-final. We know it’s going to be difficult over the two legs, but hopefully, we can get off to a good start in the first game at home.
“The way we’ve played at home a lot this year, and after the last game against Villa away in the Premier League, we’ll have a lot of the ball.
“I think they might try and counter-attack a bit more, so we’ll have to be patient at times and hopefully we’ve learned from games over the course of the season to be patient and find the right ways to break teams down, but also be secure that we’re not letting them break on us.”
Having already recorded a convincing victory at Villa Park at the start of December – a fixture that lands exactly a month before their semi-final first leg tie at King Power Stadium – Evans believes the adaptability City showed during that match will stand them in good stead on Wednesday.
“I think we played very well that day at times,” said Evans. “It was the first time we’d played the diamond formation.
“We’d started with the diamond formation and flipped in and out of it in games a few times in the season, but starting Kelechi [Iheanacho] and Vards (Jamie Vardy) up top together and playing quite a narrow midfield, it’s the first time we’d started with it and tested it out.
“We started really well, and it created a few other problems that we weren’t expecting – playing in a different shape. I thought we dealt with them really well on the day and that was probably one of our best away performances of the season.”
All times GMT.