Leicester moved up to second with a hard fought victory over Aston Villa

Leicester City moved up to second with a hard fought 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Brendan Rodgers gave his side one task: take all three points. And they delivered. From the moment the whistle went, the Foxes pinned Villa back with a high-pressing brand of football.

James Maddison opened the scoring after only 19 minutes with a composed low shot from range that nestled into the corner of the net, the England international punishing Villa who gave him far too much time and space.

Report from Villa Park… #AVLLEI

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) February 21, 2021

Harvey Barnes then added a second less than five minutes later. Emi Martínez couldn’t hold on to a venomous Jamie Vardy shot from inside the box, spilling it into the path of Barnes who reacted quickest to smash the ball into the back of the net.

Aston Villa came out quickly in the second half and grabbed a goal through Bertrand Traoré, the forward did well to get on the end of Matt Targett’s cross, with the ball bouncing in front of him he managed to get a shot off which swept past Kasper Schmeichel.

It's a 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 win for the Foxes! 👏

Full-time sponsored by Parimatch ⏱

— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 21, 2021

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Despite Villa’s best efforts they didn’t look the same without their captain Jack Grealish, who was out due to injury.

Next up for Villa is a trip to Elland Road to face Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United. While Leicester City have back to back home fixtures with Slavia Prague in the second leg of the Europa League followed by a visit from Arsenal in the Premier League.