Leicester City earned a crucial victory in their quest to avoid relegation from the Premier League, defeating Aston Villa 4-2 in a high-scoring match filled with excitement and drama. The game took place in a Midlands derby and started with Villa taking the lead through a strike from Ollie Watkins after 9 minutes.
However, Leicester responded well to the early setback and equalized soon after. The own goal was the result of poor defending by Villa, as Harry Souttar, making his debut for Leicester, accidentally deflected a low cross from Watkins into his own net.
Leicester continued to press forward and were soon level once again thanks to James Maddison’s cool finish, set up by Kelechi Iheanacho. The first half was an end-to-end affair, with both sides creating chances and coming close to scoring. Villa came close to regaining the lead when Emiliano Buendia hit the woodwork twice and Watkins missed a chance to tap in a cross from Buendia.
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Just before the break, Leicester took the lead for the first time in the game, with Tete marking his Leicester debut with a well-taken goal. Iheanacho fed Tete after Villa’s Boubacar Kamara lost possession for the second time in the first half. The first half ended with Leicester leading 3-2.
In the second half, Unai Emery, Villa’s manager, made two changes, bringing on Alex Moreno and Philippe Coutinho. Leicester started the second half in the same manner as they ended the first, with Tete coming close to scoring his second goal. Villa began to come back into the game and thought they had drawn level through Coutinho, but the offside flag ruled out the Brazilian’s close-range finish.
Leicester secured the win with a goal from substitute Dennis Praet, after Moreno failed to clear the ball, giving Praet a simple finish past Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
The final score was 4-2 in favor of Leicester, a vital three points for Brendan Rodgers’ side, who moved up to 13th place in the table. The result eased Leicester’s concerns of relegation and marked a victory for Rodgers over Emery, who he also defeated when Emery was at Arsenal.
