Leicester vs Aston Villa Prediction: Morgan to spice up proceedings at King Power

Leicester City and Aston Villa both suffered defeats last weekend, the former losing 2-1 at Fulham and the latter going down 0-2 at home to Arsenal. The Foxes and the Villans meet each other at the King Power Stadium on Saturday (15:00) in the final round of Premier League fixtures before the international break.

Scroll down for my Leicester vs Aston Villa prediction and all the latest team news ahead of this clash in the East Midlands.

Team News

Leicester warmed up nicely for the weekend by beating Tranmere Rovers 4-0 in the Carabao Cup second round on Tuesday night. Head coach Steve Cooper made eight changes to the starting XI that lost at Craven Cottage last Saturday, handing full debuts to Oliver Skipp and Jordan Ayew, the latter netting the game's opening goal from distance. The Ghana international must have put himself in contention to start this weekend, as did Stephy Mavididi, who struck from the penalty spot just after half-time.

Wout Faes, Harry Winks and Wilfred Ndidi have started all three matches this season, including the Foxes' season opener, a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, and the trio looks likely to make it four in a row on Saturday.

Jamie Vardy and Facundo Buonanotte should return to the line-up after being left out of the matchday squad in midweek, but Patson Daka remains injured.

Football Odds

Aston Villa were spared Carabao Cup second-round duty due to their fourth-place finish last term, meaning they will have had a full week to recover from their defeat to Arsenal last Saturday.

Head coach Unai Emery is unlikely to make many changes from the side that lined up from the start against the Gunners, but the Spaniard will be forced into at least one after right-back Matty Cash was forced from the field just 14 minutes into proceedings last weekend. 18-year-old Serbian Kosta Nedeljkovic replaced the Poland international and looks his most likely replacement for the trip to the King Power.

Still, there is also a chance Brazilian centre-back Diego Carlos could come into the starting XI and Ezri Konsa move out to right-back, though Emery has spoken about moving Konsa around less this term.

Jacob Ramsey and Ian Maatsen will be pushing for starts after both made back-to-back substitute appearances, but Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings are definitely ruled out of this weekend's fixture.

Leicester vs Aston Villa Odds

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Leicester are 100/30 to win a Premier League game for the first time this season, giving them an implied win probability of 23.1%, while Aston Villa are 8/11, or a 57.9% chance, to record back-to-back away victories. The draw, meanwhile, is priced at 11/4.

Both teams to score is 4/6 and over 2.5 total goals is 4/6.

Ollie Watkins is yet to get off the mark this term but is 13/10 favourite to score anytime on Saturday, and 4/1 to net first. Vardy is Leicester's lowest-priced player in both markets at 23/10 and 7/1 respectively.

Anytime Scorer - Morgan Rogers @ 21/10

Arsenal beat Emery's side by two goals at Villa Park last Saturday but Sky Sports still devoted a decent chunk of their post-match coverage to Morgan Rogers, who toyed with the Gunners at times. Thomas Partey struck the second and final goal of the game but was put in a washing machine by Rogers, who spun the Ghanaian repeatedly.

It was a travesty that Rogers didn't end the match with any sort of goal contribution. The 22-year-old laid one on a plate for Watkins in the first half but the usually reliable centre-forward fluffed his lines in front of the North Stand.

Nevertheless, Jamie Redknapp and co were eulogising about the performance of Rogers after the match, advocating him for the upcoming England squad, though there was a cautionary note that he would need to add goals and assists to his game to compete with those in front of him in the senior squad reckoning, notably Cole Palmer and Phil Foden.

I think this weekend presents an ideal opportunity for Rogers to get off the mark this season. Leicester battled bravely against Spurs and Fulham, taking a point against the former and losing narrowly at the home of the latter, but they lack the quality of most other clubs in the division, Villa included. Rogers will be floating between the Foxes' midfield and defence, and I just can't see how the likes of Faes and Jannik Vestergaard will keep up with the Halesowen-born attacker for 90-plus minutes without him doing significant damage.

Rogers took two shots in Villa's opening weekend win at West Ham United, hitting the target with one, and had three shots blocked against Arsenal. A goal is coming for the West Brom Academy graduate, and I believe it will arrive in the East Midlands.

Match Result & Total Goals Over/Under 1.5 - Aston Villa & Over 1.5 Goals @ 21/20

After beating Arsenal home and away last season, losing 2-0 to the Gunners at Villa Park last weekend was obviously disappointing, but there has to be some common sense applied. Mikel Arteta's side are sure-fire Premier League title challengers and will be pushing Manchester City all the way this year, while Villa are adapting to life after Douglas Luiz, and don't appear to have a fully settled squad yet.

Emery's charges did win 2-1 at West Ham on the opening weekend, however, evidence of their ability to cause teams problems on the road. The Villans picked up 28 points on their travels last term - only Man City (44), Arsenal (42) and Liverpool (34) claimed more away points - and they have the quality to cause serious damage to a newly promoted side like Leicester.

The Foxes were second-best in the first half of their opening home game of the season against Spurs and could consider themselves fortunate not to fall further behind before Vardy struck a 57th-minute equaliser.

I'm not sure whether Villa will be quite as wasteful if they get themselves into similar situations on Saturday, with Watkins particularly desperate to make amends for his profligacy last weekend. I can see Emery's side scoring a couple at the King Power, and the hosts struggling to net more than one.

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