Foxes of Leicester
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Aston Villa v Leicester: Foxes want revenge in the Midlands derby

By Elliot Mackness

Brendan Rogers, Manager of Leicester City interacts with Jack Grealish of Aston Villa (Photo by Rui Vieira - Pool/Getty Images)
Brendan Rogers, Manager of Leicester City interacts with Jack Grealish of Aston Villa (Photo by Rui Vieira - Pool/Getty Images) /
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Slavia Prague’s Romanian midfielder Nicolae Stanciu (C) and Leicester City’s English midfielder James Maddison (R) (Photo by MICHAL CIZEK/AFP via Getty Images) /

Predicted line-up and the way to win

Brendan Rodgers will name another strong starting XI. But I hope for a few changes to the line-up to help provide the penetration and rounding, and physicality, the East Midlands side will need to push past their strong defensive line.

Line-up: Schmeichel, Castagne, Soyuncu, Evans, Pereira, Choudhury, Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes, Under, and Kelechi Iheanacho.

Expect to see the physical and energetic Vontae Daley-Campbell on the bench, as well as Sidnei Tavares and Khanya Leshabela. Luke Thomas will obviously be on the bench, as he has been so good linking up with Barnes. If we are winning somehow by 0-3, expect Tavares and Leshabela to make a debut.

The way to win is to get every player involved. This means being dynamic in our attacking play and aggressive in our progressive passing. Taking risks is important, but not conceding too many chances is also important.

Leicester must stretch the Villans’ defence, and must penetrate passed their high-quality fullbacks. That is why we must get Barnes and Under involved, with killer passes through for them to construct chances from. Whereas Ricky P and Castagne will need to create numerical overloads on the wings to help stretch their defence.

Additionally, with ‘Nacho on the pitch, he will get involved and retain the ball higher up the pitch. His small technical touches can really take defenders out of the question and create opportunities.

Defensively, Leicester have got to keep Traore and Grealish on lockdown. No social distancing here. Castagne and Ndidi will have to be responsible for these two Villa stars, and they cannot be allowed any breathing space. When Grealish is given time to think, he can pick out beautiful cutting passes, this must not be allowed to happen.

Hot. Rodgers agrees about awful ref!. light

Barkley must be closely marked by either Tielemans or Maddison. He will make these false or real runs towards our defensive line, intercepting the pass is key to preventing him from creating opportunities. Let’s go Foxes!