Aston Villa welcome Leicester City to Villa Park in a huge Midlands derby on Super Sunday.
Victory could put Villa as high as tenth, whereas Leicester can climb to sixth with a win if Tottenham and Manchester United fail to win elsewhere in mid-afternoon.
Team News
Leon Bailey is ruled out for Aston Villa after suffering a recurrence of his thigh injury in Wednesday’s defeat to Manchester City.
Matt Targett (head) and Danny Ings (thigh) are doubts but Bertrand Traore (thigh) and Trezeguet (knee) remain ruled out.
Leicester could welcome Youri Tielemans back into contention if the Belgian has recovered from a calf injury.
James Justin (knee), Ricardo Pereira (hamstring) and Wesley Fofana (leg) remain ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Aston Villa have won just one of their last seven league meetings against Leicester (W1, D1, L5).
- Leicester are unbeaten in three of their last five league visits to Villa Park (W2, D1, L2).
- Both teams have scored in their last six clashes at Villa Park in all competitions, with their last two clashes at Villa’s ground finishing 2-1 with both teams winning one apiece.
- Ollie Watkins has scored in each of Villa’s last three league matches at Villa Park.
- Leicester have failed to score first in three of their last five away league matches (D2, L1).
Prediction
Aston Villa put in a decent effort against Man City in midweek but the damage was done by half-time as the result of defensive errors after getting stretched out of position, yet Villa made huge improvements in the second half despite finding themselves unlucky to not snatch a draw,
Leicester meanwhile experienced a defensive dip at Southampton with sloppy play at set pieces but they did grow into the match with strong pressing play, which was evident in a more dominant second half but should feel disappointed with a draw after wasting numerous chances to win.
A draw therefore feels like it could be plausible here given the recent improvements for both teams because I can’t see much to separate them, although Leicester could be the likely winners given their form in this fixture.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Leicester City
Result: Aston Villa 2-1 Leicester