City in Villa rematch

Leicester City and Aston Villa go head to head in the League Cup for the 2nd year running, this time at Villa Park.

Vital Quotes:

Villa manager Martin O’Neill admitted he left the City ground expecting to play his former club Forest in the 3rd round. ‘I have to say that I left at 2-1 to Forest. Then I heard on the radio that a goal had been scored, and it was in fact two goals. That was a big win for Leicester, and I thought they looked more than reasonable in the game.’

Leicester City assistant manager Frank Burrows said he expects the players to lift their game following their defeat at the weekend. ‘We are disappointed after the defeat at Charlton on Saturday but if you can’t lift yourself for this sort of game then you should not be in football.’

Aston Villa Team News:

John Carew is out for this game after sustaining an injury in the league game with Villa. O’Neill may choose to rest some of this team but with players like Maloney, Petrov and Curtis Davies waiting for their chance, expect a strong Villa side.

Player to watch: Agbonlahor

A lovely bit of skill at the weekend from the England U21 striker to score the second against Everton. City’s back line will have to be wary of his pace.

Leicester City Team News:

Leicester’s Wesolowski will be out for at least another 4 weeks. Striker Elvis Hammond was injured in his come back game for the reserves, as was new loan winger Julio Marco Ferreira.

Player to watch: Fulop

I’m struggling for anyone else to put here, I think that the pressure will definitely be on the loanee keeper, a good performance from him though and anything is possible.

Match Facts & Stats

These two sides met last season at The Walkers, with Villa getting a last minute winner in a 3-2 thriller, which included 2 Villa penalties. City also player Villa twice in the semis of this competition in 2000 with City going through 1-0 on aggregate and going on to win the competition. That 2000 winning side was of course managed by the current Villa manager Martin O’Neill, who won the trophy twice whilst at Leicester.

Match Prediction:

I went for a 1-1 draw with us going through on penalties when asked by our Villa editor. I’m going to stick with that, we deserve a break after last time.

Next Fixtures:

City are back in action in the League on Saturday at Home against Stoke