Goals, goals, and goals – this has been the scenario in the Premier League this season. But at the King Power Stadium, a potential goalless draw was on the horizon until a goal arrived in the last minutes to settle the score. It was not Leicester City who left the pitch as the winners, but the destroyers of Liverpool – Aston Villa managed to win four out of four so far and sit on the top of the points table.
After collecting a pass from John McGinn midway inside the Leicester half in the first minute of stoppage time, Aston Villa’s on-loan Chelsea midfielder strode forward and essayed a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
And with that, Villa had won their opening four matches of a campaign for the first time since 1930 and climbed to second in the Premier League.
Leicester know better than anyone that a team can win the title one season after narrowly escaping relegation. It would be ludicrous to start talking to Villa about such notions just yet but there is no doubt that Dean Smith’s side has made huge progress since being thrashed here 4-0 in March.
Attracting players such as Barkley has been part of that improvement.
Villa now have so much creative talent, on top of a solidified defence – the intensity seems to have increased more after the famous thrashing of the Reds.
The football fans are not familiar with such things, but in this season a lot of unthinkable things are happening. Teams like Aston Villa and West Ham United are a tough nut to crack whereas the others: Crystal Palace, Southampton and co are proving to giant killers.
From a neutral point of view, the rise of such teams and their fighting spirit is very good for the game. The domination of the big teams makes it monotonous more often and thus this sort of a thrilling contest and big teams digesting shocks kill the boredom. That is what football leagues are all about Europe most of the time – the body language would never tell, it is a written-script like the T20 Leagues in cricket, rather dignity and the value of a fans’ emotion is taken care of.
Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 19/10/2020 Aston Villa win again: Good for the game
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