Leicester City will meet Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup semifinal first leg at the King Powers Stadium on Wednesday. Brendan Rodgers will hope to continue Leicester City’s great season and take one step closer to silverware.
Aston Villa limp into the first leg following a 2-1 FA Cup third round loss to EFL Championship team Fulham. Manager Dean Smith also has a host of injuries at Villa Park including his first- and second-choice goalkeepers being ruled out of the match.
Smith will call on third-choice shot-stopper Orjan Nyland. The Norwegian was in goal in the FA Cup third round at the weekend as Aston Villa succumbed to defeat.
Leicester City have already defeated Aston Villa this season, 4-1, at Villa Park. Jamie Vardy scored twice for the Foxes while Kelechi Iheanancho and Jonny Evans also got on the scoresheet. Jack Grealish did pull a goal back for Aston Villa but it was for not.
Six players are ruled out for Aston Villa in the build-up for the Carabao Cup semifinal first leg. Joining goalkeepers Thomas Heaton and Jed Steer on the sidelines will be striker Wesley, Keinan Davis, John McGinn, and Matt Targett.
Leicester City could be without striker Vardy after he missed the last three games in all competitions. Vardy has had a tight calf and was held out of action to prevent further injury. With Leicester City’s recent good form, Rodgers could choose to rest him once more.
Matthew James could finally be back from injury soon, however, Wednesday night will come too soon for the midfielder. Filip Benkovic and Wes Morgan are both ruled out of the game and will play no part due to their respective injuries.
Between 2014 and 2019, Leicester City and Aston Villa met six times in all competitions. Leicester City are unbeaten in four of those matches with three games ending in wins.
Based on Aston Villa’s road form this season, they have little chance of winning the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal. Aston Villa have won just twice in 11 away fixtures in the Premier League this season and collected the third-fewest points on the road.
Aston Villa will have difficulty against a stronger Leicester City team. Rodgers will lead the Foxes to victory at home with a win to nil against an injury-ravaged Aston Villa. Expect under 2.5 goals as Leicester City do enough to take control of the tie.