Aston Villa 1-2 Leicester City: Maddison, Barnes on target as Foxes move to second spot

James Maddison-Leicester City

Leicester have edged out Villans away to secure three points

Leicester City have moved to second in the Premier League after beating Aston Villa 2-1 at Villa Park.

The home side had an early chance to get on the scoresheet after Anwar El Ghazi set up nicely for Bertrand Traore, who had his shot blocked by left-back Luke Thomas.

Leicester drew first blood in the 19th minute after James Maddison whipped the ball into the bottom corner against Emiliano Martinez’s tiring effort.

Harvey Barnes, who provided the assist for Leicester’s first goal, doubled the minutes when he pounced on the rebound from Jamie Vardy’s strike.

Villa started the second half on a positive note as they pulled back one with the help of Traore.

However, the hosts failed to find the equaliser although Foxes had a great chance to restore the two-goal cushion, with Maddison’s effort from a free-kick outside the box being denied by Argentine keeper Martinez.

Foxes, who were held to a draw by Slavia Prague in Europa League days ago, secured an important away win to leapfrog Manchester United to second place in the table. Brendan Rodgers would be delighted to see his side continuing their dominance as they humbled defending champions Liverpool in their previous fixture.

Elsewhere, Villa, who are currently eighth in the table, failed to close the gap with Everton.

Leicester would look to build on this win as they await Praha at home in a crucial second leg of the round of 16 tie.