Matchday Live Talking Points: Brilliant Barnes, Exceptional Evans & Vardy’s Back
- Gerry Taggart, Matt Elliott and Tony Cottee provided their post-match thoughts on Leicester City’s 4-0 win against Aston Villa
- The former Foxes trio were speaking on LCFC Radio’s Matchday Live broadcast
- Free coverage of City’s Premier League trip to Watford on Saturday (12:30pm kick-off) will be available on LCFC Radio from 9:30am
Harvey Barnes and the returning Jamie Vardy both scored twice as City cruised to a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa at King Power Stadium.
Vardy came off the bench to net a brace, following the opener from Barnes, who then added his second and Leicester's fourth late on.
The result cements the Foxes’ position in the Premier League's top three, five points clear of fourth-placed Chelsea, with nine games left to play this campaign.
Also discussed was City's performance at the other end of the pitch as Leicester made it back to back home clean sheets after last week’s shutout against Birmingham City in the Emirates FA Cup.
Goals, goals, goals
Matt Elliott said: “In terms of the goal difference, and the 'goals for' column, Leicester are miles ahead, which is effectively another point in the bag, so if you’re including that, it’s nine points clear (of fifth-placed Manchester United) with nine games to play - it's a wonderful position.”
Targets achieved
Tony Cottee said: “Before the game, Brendan [Rodgers] wanted a result, that was the main thing. Secondly, he’ll have wanted to see a performance. Thirdly, probably no injuries and finally you want to get your main man back in, Jamie Vardy. All four of them happened, so Brendan will be absolutely ecstatic with that.”
Vardy's back
Gerry Taggart said: “He sensed what was happening from the sidelines when he was warming up. He’s thinking ‘come on Brendan get me on the pitch, I know I’m going to score’ and obviously that proved to be the case. The whole stadium was just lifted when he came on the pitch and his first run was a scampering run to put the pressure on the ‘keeper (Pepe Reina) and the crowd just responded. It just shows you there’s no substitute for hard work.”
Barnes’ brilliance
Matt Elliott said: “He was a big threat tonight. There were good performances throughout but Harvey Barnes was something special really, he set the tone. The potential is there, he’s performing at a level that is at the high end of the Premier League anyway, but there’s so much more to come. His pace, his power, his timing of touch to knock it and go outstrips most defenders. If it works, just keep doing it.”
Goal of the night?
Gerry Taggart said: “It’s a lovely little move (the fourth goal). It’s the movement from Harvey Barnes to run across the line and the timing just before [Marc] Albrighton pulls it back and then to slot it home into that bottom corner on the run, running towards the ball, which is coming towards him at pace, it’s a difficult skill to get that spot on. So, for me, that was probably the goal of the night.”
Exceptional Evans
Matt Elliott said: “It fell nicely for him [Jonny Evans] on a couple of occasions but that’s because he gets his positioning right and he makes the right decisions: when to come in for the challenge, when to drop off and it was exceptional defending. He had to be determined, use his long legs to make the challenge, it was tailor-made in wet conditions to slide in and it just typified his performance and started off the attack that led to the goal.”
All times GMT.