Maddison vs. Grealish, oh I meant Foxes vs. Villa
The Carabao Cup semi-finals begin this week, with the second first leg taking place on Wednesday evening between second placed Leicester City and Aston Villa who reside in 17th. It is not the showpiece of the round with a Manchester derby tie starting on Tuesday, but all the same it is a massive opportunity for two sides outside the Premier League’s traditional top six to get to Wembley and contest for a crown that would guarantee qualification for the 2020/21 Europa League. Dean Smith’s relegation battlers have had a disappointing week at both ends of the pitch with both Tom Heaton and Wesley being ruled for the rest of the season due to injury, and so will need a positive result on Wednesday to push attention away from the glaring holes left in their team.
Unsung hero
Vastly experienced centre-back Jonny Evans is showing the best form of his career, now aged 32, and has along with reliable partner Caglar Soyuncu managed to enhance the strength of the Foxes’ backline despite the loss of the most expensive defender of all time, Harry Maguire, last summer.
The Manchester United youth product has earned 78 caps for Northern Ireland and is approaching 300 appearances at the top level of English football with his abilities reaching their peak. Evans’ aerial dominance and assured passing out from the back has been a huge contributing factor in Brendan Rodgers’ side achieving the second-best defensive record in the division.
James Maddison Vs Jack Grealish
Two extremely talent young English attacking midfielders will go head-to-head in one of the spectacles of the match. Maddison and Grealish has similar styles with excellent dribbling ability, trickery and a habit of pulling off wonder goals. They will both be vying for a place in the squad or even starting eleven at Euro 2020 and they have the remainder of the season as a shop window to prove their worth in that respect.
Grealish, 24, has been with the Villans since his childhood and made his Premier League debut for the club at just 16, he now skippers them and arguably carries their hopes of survival on his shoulders. He is the subject a host of transfer talk this month however will likely see out the campaign leading the newly promoted sides battle against the drop.
Maddison worked his way up through the Championship and League One, with Coventry City followed by Norwich City, he is a year younger and has made his Three Lions debut however he is trailing Grealish by one goal involvement this season, ten to eleven. The Villa talisman has one more assist with them both on six league goals.
They both contributed in the last head-to-head with Grealish getting on the scoresheet but Maddison getting the bragging rights as he got two assists with Foxes leaving Villa Park 4-1 winners.
Leicester City – Aston Villa Betting Tip
Leicester City to Win + Aston Villa to Score Under 1.5 goals with Betway at odds of 33/50.
Bet Leicester City to Win + Aston Villa to Score Under 1.5 goals on Betway
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
Against expectations Aston Villa were able to grind out a draw to take to Villa Park, they were the architects of their own downfall conceding a late suckerpunch from super sub Kelechi Iheanacho. 1-1.