Leicester City vs Aston Villa – Carabao Cup Semi-Final 2020

Brendan Rogers’ men welcome Aston Villa to the King-Power stadium for the first leg of this exciting Midlands League Cup semi-final clash.

The match gets underway at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night with both sides searching for a place in the final at Wembley in March. Leicester have the edge over their opponents as the last occasion when these two went head-to-head, Villa suffered a humiliating 4-1 home defeat.

In the last five matches, Leicester they have won three and lost two. These two defeats came against Man City and Liverpool, so those result shouldn’t cause too much concern with the Leicester faithful. The Foxes are playing some of the most attractive football in the Premier League which will likely cause Villa’s defence a problem or two.

Dean Smith’s Aston Villa is currently one space above the relegation zone, so this cup run will be the main focus of their season. To have reached this stage of the tournament the Claret & Blue have beaten Crewe, Brighton, Wolves and Liverpool. To be drawn against three Premiership teams is unfortunate but Villa surprisingly came out on top.

The difference between then and now, however, is the absence of key players who won’t travel with Villa for the semi-final first leg due to injury. The likes of Callum Chambers, John McGinn & Kieran Tierney are out of action. Starman, McGinn who had a superb start to his Premier League career suffered a fractured heel which rules him out until May 2020. Meanwhile, Brendan Rogers’ only worry will be if his top scorer Jamie Vardy is back for the biggest game of his clubs history since they last won the Premiership in 2016.

It’s hard to look past a convincing Leicester win over the two legs. This is supported by Betfair’s odds as they have the Foxes down 1/3 to win the first match. The returns aren’t great which shows Leicesters dominance going into the fixture. Aston Villa is priced up at 15/2 to record their first win at the King-Power since 2006.

On the goal front, you’d have to fancy Jack Grealish. The local lad would love to score a big goal verse Villa and is a good choice for your anytime goalscorer bet. On the subject of scoring, I can see this one being a goal thriller. If Vardy is back from injury this game could be a wise selection for an over 3.5 goals.