Leicester City held off a Jack Grealish-less Aston Villa to take three points away from their Midlands rivals. So what stats stand out following the latest victory.
Harvey Barnes is one away from the top scorer in goals and assists; for a long time now Jamie Vardy has been the Foxes’ top scorer with an untouchable reputation regarding his prowess in front of goal. When he notched his fourteenth goal last week (the easiest he will ever score) it was the end of a run that had seen him absent from the score sheet since 20 December. In that time Harvey Barnes has scored seven times and is now looking like the Leicester’s most dangerous player after picking up his latest goal from a Vardy rebound. His twisting runs and cutting from inside the left channel are terrorising full backs who are under pressure to foul in the absence of any legal answers.
Using those trademark runs he was able to lay the pass in to James Maddison putting the former West Bromwich Albion loanee one behind Vardy and Maddison in the Foxes Premier League assists table. With Vardy being top dog for so long, how will he react now that his number one status is under threat?
Villa Park back to back wins for first time ever
Following the 4-1 thrashing last season Leicester have now struck victorious two seasons in a row at Villa Park for the first time in their history. This stat does slightly cheat the truth as sandwiched in the middle of these Villa Park wins was a defeat in the League Cup Semi Final in January 2020. Today was a much quieter affair with an all too familiar lockdown restricted audience. The East Midlands players may have been disappointed that they couldn’t enjoy their victory in front of the Aston Villa faithful who were all too keen to rub their noses in that victory 13 months ago during a memorable pitch invasion.
30 from a possible 39 away points
Just read that again, it’s remarkable. Leicester have the same amount of away points this season as Manchester City. When they rock up to any Premier League stadium the opposition should be in fear as their brand of quick attacking football and calm defending has home teams in awe. They have still only been beaten once on the road this season at Anfield which bodes well for the rest of the season with trips to Manchester United and West Ham still to come. If the home form can start to show the same resilience then Leicester could well be a different prospect this season.
8 conceded in 12
Although Leicester’s defence isn’t necessarily water tight, you could argue it is getting better. Since the start of 2021 they have conceded just eight goals and kept seven clean sheets. Kasper Schmeichel was rarely needed today apart from when Bertrand Traore was left unmarked to scramble in an early second half goal. There is potentially the occasional switching off that is still costing them silly goals. But they are affording their opponents very little in the way of clear chances and that is getting results over the line.
1 defeat in 15
Since losing at home to Everton in December, only Leeds United have got the better of this Leicester team. Once again that is despite the countless injuries that Brendan Rodgers has had to manage and negotiate along the way. It a remarkable achievement but will mean very little if the next 15 or so games doesn’t herald similar returns.
Brendan Rodgers nears 2 years in charge
February 26th will mark the Northern Irishman’s two year spell in charge of the club and he’s been nothing short of fantastic. Leicester have rarely been out of the form and place of a top 4 side since he arrived. He has made a team maximise its potential when it was clear that they could achieve more.
Rodgers has taken three points off all but one of the other current nineteen Premier League teams as the Foxes boss, Manchester United in case you were wondering. He is an elite manager with an enviable group of footballers, a world class training facility and soon to be announced stadium expansion. Maybe leaving Celtic for a club deemed to be worse than their reserves can finally be seen as a great career move.