Carabao Cup: Leicester City 1 Aston Villa 1 - Report and pictures

A goal to the good with just 15 minutes remaining against one of the best teams in the country, all it took was one lapse in concentration to undo the hard work.

Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho took advantage of Douglas Luiz switching off to fire home, cancelling out Frederic Guilbert’s first-half opener and ensuring the second leg at Villa Park later this month becomes in effect a one-match shoot-out for a place at Wembley.

For Villa there was an undoubted sense of frustration after 90 minutes which, for the most part, they had managed to restrict a Leicester outfit who thumped four goals past them just a month previously.

Yet there were also many aspects of this showing which will provide boss Dean Smith with encouragement, not just for the second leg of this tie, but also for the Premier League battles to come, beginning with Sunday’s visit of champions Manchester City.

Villa had stunned the home crowd when Guilbert prodded home Anwar El Ghazi’s 28th minute cross and also hit the bar through Ezri Konsa.

But the hosts dominated for long periods and their pressure paid off when Luiz lost possession and Iheanacho, on the pitch for barely five minutes, fired home.

The question for the visitors posed for most of the evening was who needs a striker? That came after Villa's already meagre resources up front were wiped out entirely the absence of Jonathan Kodjia through injury.

Smith deployed El Ghazi as a false nine and the Dutch international worked tirelessly in attack alongside Trezeguet and the excellent Jack Grealish.

After a big-scale build up which included a 10-minute light show, the match itself began in rather pedestrian fashion with Leicester, dominating possession, slowly ramping up the pressure.

It took more than 12 minutes for the hosts to fashion the first chance, Ayoze Perez drilling a shot which took a flick off Luiz and whistled just past the far post.

Then came two big chances for Jamie Vardy, the first of which was fashioned in accidental fashion by Marvelous Nakamba.

Racing back toward his own goal, the Zimbabwe international missed a call from Tyrone Mings and instead headed the ball past his own man, allowing Vardy to fire in a low shot which Nyland just managed to push round the far post.

The goalkeeper would come to Villa’s rescue again soon after, spreading himself to block after a neat pass from Perez had put Vardy in the clear.

With Villa were struggling to maintain possession and offering little in attack, it seemed only a matter of time before the hosts made the breakthrough.

Instead, it was the visitors who claimed a shock lead. A neat flick from Trezeguet set Grealish away down the right wing, with the ball eventually being worked to El Ghazi on the opposite flank. The winger moved the ball onto his left before delivering a cross which Guilbert, arriving at the far post ahead of Ben Chilwell, deflected into the ground and up into the roof off the net.

It was a goal completely against the run of play but the confidence it gave Villa was obvious immediately. From then until half-time it was they who were the better team and they came inches from the doubling the lead when Konsa got ahead of Schmeichel to meet Grealish’s free-kick, his header clattering off the bar.

Leicester were on the front foot right from the off in the second half but it took until past the hour mark before Nyland was seriously tested again. Maddison showed quick feet to fashion the chance but from 10 yards out hit his finish straight at the keeper, with Mings on hand to hack the loose ball clear.

Nyland denied Maddison in similar fashion soon after a fine pass from Ricardo Pereira had put his team-mate through.

Villa were working tirelessly to hold their lead but all it took was one lapse in concentration to undo their efforts.

From their own free-kick, Konsa played the ball to Luiz, who failed to feel the pressure from Choudhury and was robbed. The latter switched the ball to Vardy and then to Iheanacho, who showed composure to switch the ball on to his left foot and lift a finish over Nyland.

Suddenly the King Power Stadium was alive with noise and Villa almost created their own trouble again when Nakamba lost possession and Maddison blazed over.

Vardy then had one half of the ground on its feet when he fired inches wide of the post and into the side netting following a rapid counter attack.

Teams

Leicester (3-5-2): Schmeichel, Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu, Fuchs, Chilwell, Praet (Choudhury HT), Tielemans (Albrighton 79), Maddison, Perez (Iheanacho 69), Vardy Subs not used: Justin, Barnes, Benkovic, Ward (gk).

Villa (3-4-3): Nyland, Konsa, Mings, Hause, Guilbert, Luiz, Nakamba (Lansbury 86), Taylor, Trezeguet (Hourihane 67), El Ghazi (Vassilev 74), Grealish Subs not used: Jota, Elmohamady, Chester, Kalinic (gk).