Aston Villa vs Leicester City
If you asked the majority of Aston Villa or Leicester City fans for their overall assessment of the past year, I suspect it would be largely upbeat. For Villa, a return to the top tier of European football less than two years after they were languishing near the bottom of the Premier League, would be scarcely believable. For Leicester, a return to the top flight at the first attempt following an unexpected relegation, was always going to be the ultimate aim.
Now a new year has arrived and both are on the hunt for some early Premier League 2025 highlights to shape their next ambitions – another top four finish and survival respectively.
Talking Points
Regular SBOTOP readers will know of my admiration for Villa boss Unai Emery and will have seen how, in such a short space of time, he has transformed the fortunes of the Midlands club who, for so long, were something of a sleeping giant.
Despite the difficulty of juggling domestic and European commitments, they have never dropped out of top-four contention this season and remain handily placed in both league and Champions League combat.
They will see the visit of their Midlands’ rivals as a tricky but surmountable challenge to make a winning start to 2025.
That they will be without Jhon Duran is a blow.
He is currently serving a three match suspension the club believes is extremely harsh to say the least. The club was indeed shocked that the ban, imposed following the young Colombian’s sending-off on Boxing Day, was upheld.
Duran, who has scored 12 goals in all competitions this season, including seven in the league, had started Villa’s past three games as Emery preferred him to last season’s top goalscorer Ollie Watkins.
Watkins, of course, is a leading man in his own right and should lead the line on Saturday afternoon.
Another man who was quite superb at leading the line during a successful playing career is now in the hot seat at Leicester.
Ruud van Nistelrooy made a decent start to life with the Foxes with four points from his first two games but reverses in their last four, including a heavy defeat at home to fellow strugglers Wolves, have left them languishing in the bottom three.
Leicester should not be judged too harshly after Christmas defeats by Liverpool and champions Manchester City.
Van Nistelrooy wanted to take his early weeks to discover what was really needed for the January transfer window and he will now have a better idea. Six games in and 14 goals shipped, he will likely think defensive reinforcements are a priority.
First though, a trip to close rivals Villa and a need to stop the sequence of defeats.
History
February 4, 1905, was the first ever meeting between the two Midlands clubs.
It was a first round FA Cup tie which Villa won 5-1 against the then named Leicester Fosse.
Albert Hall, Joe Bache (two), Alec Leake and Harry Hampton scored for the hosts with Arthur Mounteney notching the consolation for Fosse.
Their first league meeting followed three years later and so a history which has so far included 45 Villa successes, 38 Leicester wins and a further 26 draws was underway.
When they met at the King Power Stadium at the start of the season, Amadou Onana and Duran were the goal-getters in a 2-1 Villa victory with Facundo Buonanotte replying for the home team.
It was the same scoreline in April 2023, when a late Bertrand Traore goal settled the contest and proved costly as the Foxes were relegated the following month.
Their most recent meeting at Villa Park two seasons ago, however, resulted in a fine 4-2 Leicester success.
Villa led twice through Watkins and an own goal but Leicester won the day with James Maddison, Kelechi Iheanacho, Tete and Dennis Praet on target.
Betting Tip
It’s a home win all the way with Premier League 2025 betting who back Villa 1X2 @ 1.28 and Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 1.89.
Leicester are priced 1X2 @ 7.30 and Asian Handicap +1.50 @ 2.01.
The draw is on offer @ 5.10.
For goals aplenty, it’s worth looking at over 3.25 @ 2.07, total goals 2-3 @ 2.18 and 4-6 @ 2.48, compared to total goals 0-1 @ 4.86.
A repeat of their most recent meeting at Villa Park will pay out at an incredible @ 250.00 with Correct Score 2-4. Or how about another 2-1 Villa success @ 8.60?
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT)
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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