Aston Villa v Leicester: Youri Tielemans faces former club as Villa hunt killer instinct

But on Saturday the midfielder, scorer of the goal which won the Foxes the 2021 FA Cup final, will be aiming to push his former club further into the relegation mire and help earn Villa a win needed for them to keep pace in the race for European football.

More than 18 months since swapping east Midlands for west, Tielemans is a vital part of a Villa team which has entered 2025 with work to do if they are to repeat last year’s feat of qualifying for the Champions League.

With Morgan Rogers suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season in Monday’s 2-2 draw with Brighton, the Belgium international will stand alone as the only outfield player to have started every Premier League match for Unai Emery’s side this season.

It will be Tielemans who will be tasked with picking up some of the slack left in Rogers’ absence, albeit his own influence this term has already been considerable. Ollie Watkins is the only Villa player to have set-up more goals than the 27-year-old, who has registered four assists.

What Tielemans does not have to his name in the Premier League is a goal of his own, though on that front he is hardly alone. 

John McGinn and Leon Bailey, who combined for 16 league goals last season, are also yet to open their accounts for the campaign. In total, just seven different Villa players have found the net in the Premier League, with Ezri Konsa and Matty Cash netting one apiece. Neither Rogers nor Jhon Duran, who with 13 combined goals are responsible for almost half of Villa’s team tally of 28, are available to face the Foxes.

Such statistics give weight to the argument while Villa’s leaky defence might be Emery’s biggest concern, their attack is also coming up short. 

A quick comparison with last season’s numbers further enforces that view. While Villa have conceded just six more goals than they had after 19 matches last term, they have scored 12 fewer. Monday’s draw with the Seagulls wasn’t the first time it felt like they had paid the price for failing to kill the opposition off when they had the chance.

“We weren’t clinical in the end,” remarked Watkins at the final whistle. “We had a lot of attacks on the transition, but we weren’t clinical, myself included.

“We needed to do better in those situations, and that’s why we haven’t got three points.”

Watkins blazed a good chance to win the match over the bar with the last kick and the England international has admitted to having found the first half of the season tough. 

Despite that, he is still top of the charts for both goals and assists. For all that Watkins could improve, the fact is if Villa are to find some consistent rhythm over the second half of the campaign, greater goal production is also required from elsewhere.