Aston Villa Sets Sights On Top Six Amid Preparations For Leicester City Duel

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Unai Emery is determined to push Aston Villa into the top six this season as they gear up to face Leicester City on Saturday. Despite a 2-0 loss to Arsenal at Villa Park, where they had better chances, Emery remains optimistic about his team's progress. Last season's top scorer, Ollie Watkins, missed two significant opportunities, but Emery believes his players will improve and acknowledges the challenge of matching last season's fourth-place finish.

Leicester City showcased their dominance in the EFL Cup midweek with a 4-0 victory over Tranmere Rovers at the King Power Stadium. This win followed their 2-1 Premier League defeat to Fulham. New signing Jordan Ayew scored, marking his debut alongside midfielder Oliver Skipp from Tottenham Hotspur. Steve Cooper praised his team's attitude and hopes they maintain this momentum against Aston Villa.

"The most important thing is to win and play well. We had real dominance from start to finish," Cooper said. "Jordan (Ayew) made it happen with his goal, which is obviously a wonderful strike and good for him to get off the mark on his debut, but we needed more moments in the final third, whether it was one vs. one or combination work."

Leicester: Jamie Vardy has been involved in 98 Premier League goals at the King Power Stadium (71 goals and 27 assists). He scored their equaliser on the opening day against Spurs and aims to become the 14th player with 100+ goal involvements at a single venue. Only Mohamed Salah at Anfield (128) and Kevin De Bruyne at the Etihad (111) have more goals and assists since 2014-15.

Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins hopes to end his goal drought against Leicester after seven Premier League games without scoring. His longest barren run was eight games between August and October 2022 before Emery's arrival.

Match Prediction: Aston Villa Win

Aston Villa are favoured to win in the East Midlands derby, with Opta's data-led simulations giving them a 48.5% chance of victory compared to Leicester's 27.4%. However, Leicester have lost only seven of their 28 Premier League meetings with Villa (W11 D10), their lowest loss rate against any side they've faced 20+ times in the competition (25%).

Since Emery joined Villa Park, he has enjoyed success away from home. Only Manchester City (23) and Arsenal (20) have won more away games than Villa (15). Villa aim to win their first two away matches in a Premier League season for the fourth time, having previously done so in 2009-10, 2014-15, and 2020-21.

"I accept the result today because we are doing our way and trying to improve our things and develop as well," Emery said. "It is the second day in the Premier League. There's still work to do. We will improve and use those matches we played against West Ham and today to understand our way."

Leicester have struggled defensively since keeping five clean sheets in six Premier League games before the 2022 World Cup break. They have managed just one clean sheet in their last 25 top-flight matches.

Cooper has yet to win either of his first two league games as Leicester manager (D1 L1). The last Foxes manager who failed to win any of his opening three was Paulo Sousa in August 2010.

"The expectation is to play well," Cooper added. "That starts with the right attitude, and I think we showed that mentality in the game tonight, which should be non-negotiable."