The second leg of the Carabao Cup semi final between Aston Villa and Leicester City takes place on Tuesday night, the tie is looked up at 1-1 and this time Villa have home advantage.
Aston Villa
Villa were every inch the underdogs heading into the first leg at Leicester on 8th January but despite a number of injury problems they dug deep to come away with a 1-1 draw. Frederic Guilbert gave Villa a first half lead but Leicester's pressure eventually told on 74 minutes when Iheanacho equalized. There was no further scoring which means the tie has a more balanced look than what many punters expected heading into this second leg.
Villa had booked a semi final spot with a 5-0 thrashing of Liverpool's youngsters in the last 8. They took full advantage of the Liverpool's first team squads involvement in the Club World Cup whilst in earlier rounds they won at home to Wolves (2-1), away at Brighton (3-1) and at Crewe (6-1).
Following the first leg Villa were trounced 6-1 by Manchester City in a Premier League home game but they bounced back to draw 1-1 at Brighton and more recently they were 2-1 winners at home to Watford. Villa are currently fifth from bottom in the EPL standings, just 2 points clear of the drop zone.
Leicester
Leicester will feel a draw was the absolute minimum they deserved from the first leg but they came through each of the earlier rounds despite being drawn away from home. They booked a semi final place with a penalty shoot out victory at Everton after a 2-2 draw and also needed penalty kicks to edge past Newcastle at the start of this cup run. Leicester were also drawn away to Luton (won 4-0) and Burton (won 3-1).
At the weekend Leicester were 1-0 winners away to high flying Championship side Brentford to book a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
League results since the first leg saw Leicester lose back to back games at home to Southampton and away to Burnley but they did bounce back to thrash West Ham 4-1 in a subsequent home game. Leicester are in third place in the standings and with a 14 point gap to fifth place they remain on course for Champions League football next season.
Head to Head
Aside from the first leg of this tie the teams met in the Premier League at Villa Park on 8th December Leicester coasted to a 4-1 win.
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The Betting
(90 minute markets)
Leicester are favourites to win this second leg at around 15/20, the draw is 31/10 and Villa can be backed at 17/4
Both teams to score is 11/20 and a game of 3 goals or more in total is trading at the same price
The Verdict:
Although Leicester haven't been able to maintain the consistency they showed in the first half of the season I fancy they can get the job done in 90 minutes here. It's a rare shot at a potential trophy for both sides so it should be a lively game to watch and I take the view that if Leicester open the scoring they will take some pegging back.
Bet: Matchflow, Leicester score first and win the game at 9/10
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