Aston Villa 2 Leicester 1 - Matt Maher analysis
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00:00Good evening from Villa Park where everyone is looking to get away and escape the incoming snow and Villa are celebrating a 2-1 win over Leicester City.
00:13Again they had to win and again they just about won thanks to Leon Bailey's first goal of the season.
00:19Bailey getting off the mark, finally this campaign by netting the winner.
00:2314 minutes from time, cross from Ian Martson, substituted, only been on the pitch about 30 or 40 seconds.
00:29An inspired move by Unai Emery on an afternoon where his team really were lacking a lot of inspiration.
00:35The first half was a forgettable affair, the only incident of note was a hamstring injury sustained by John McGinn,
00:42which is likely to keep him out for at least a couple of weeks.
00:44Villa were already without five first team players coming into this game.
00:48John Duran and Morgan Rodgers missing through suspension and others through injury.
00:52McGinn's injury does not help moving forward but at least they'll have Rodgers back and actually Duran as well for the next Premier League game.
01:01Both those players missing, they contributed to half of Villa's Premier League goals this season and they were missed.
01:09This was a display that lacked creativity until just before the hour mark,
01:14Ross Barkley stomped home the opener from just outside the box, his third goal of the season.
01:20Celebrated by sticking the ball up his shirt and later revealing that last week he'd become a father for the first time.
01:26Martson who came on the pitch had also just become a dad as well a couple of days ago,
01:32so a good new year for the new dad's brigade and ultimately a good new year for Villa.
01:39They look tired, you do wonder whether the number of games they've played over the last few weeks has taken its toll a bit.
01:47They've got the best part of a week off now before they play West Ham which will come in handy.
01:53It wasn't a great performance but they found a way to get the win.
01:58Steffi Maddavidi had cancelled out Barkley's opener and then Martson within seconds of coming on pounced on a loose ball,
02:07exchanged passes with Jacob Ramsey, sent it in the cross for Bailey to score.
02:12Villa should have won it more comfortably from there, Bailey hit the bar, Ollie Watkins missed a glorious chance, an open goal pretty much.
02:18But the win was all that mattered and Villa, for all the fact that they are huffing and puffing a bit,
02:23are still right there in the mix, in the top half of the table in the race for European football.