Aston Villa will be looking to return to winning ways when they travel to Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
Aston Villa recorded a 2-1 victory over West Ham on opening day and were unfortunate to lose 2-0 against Arsenal after having so many great opportunities to score.
Since that defeat at the Gunners, Unai Emery has experienced mixed fortunes. Villa have lost Diego Carlos to injury and PSR prevented them from strengthening on deadline day while Tyrone Mings returned to training this week and Villa discovered their Champions League opponents on Thursday.
Emery fired a warning to his players ahead of playing in Europe’s elite competition and challenged his players to maintain the levels they reached last term.
That begins with a trip to the King Power Stadium, where they’ll hope to record their second victory of the campaign.
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Paul Merson issues Champions League claim in Leicester v Aston Villa score prediction
Last weekend, Morgan Rogers was unplayable against Arsenal and former striker Paul Merson felt Villa were unfortunate not to come away with three points.
Merson believes if they can continue to play like that against the biggest teams in the league, they will trouble them.
However, he has also outlined his concerns about the size of their squad for the Champions League and issued a comparison to Newcastle United, who saw a drop off in the league when tackling European competition.
In his column for Sportskeeda, Merson wrote: “Aston Villa will be kicking themselves after losing to Arsenal last weekend. They played well enough to get something out of that game, but walked away with nothing in the end. I liked what I saw from them on the counter-attack, they could trouble some big teams if they keep doing that well.
“I have a feeling this will be a tough campaign for Villa in the Champions League. It’s never easy with all the travel involved. It could turn out to be like what happened to Newcastle United last season. Villa should be fine in the league this weekend though, no doubt!”
He thinks Villa will come away with a comfortable win at the King Power, as he predicts Emery’s men to win 3-0.
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Morgan Rogers time to shine
Rogers is the Villa to come out of the first two matches with the most praise.
Against West Ham, he was dubbed for his powerful running while in the defeat to Arsenal, Tim Sherwood labelled Rogers an £80 million player after bullying Thomas Partey and Declan Rice.
The 22-year-old did everything in that match but score or assist, although Ollie Watkins should have buried one of the chances Rogers laid on a plate for him.
That is the biggest challenge for the youngster to reach a new level, as he must add goal involvement to his game.
Ben Foster thinks becoming a machine in front of goal will make Rogers a £100 million player and on the evidence of his Villa career so far, it’s hard to disagree with that notion.
The England under-21 star must use some upcoming favourable fixtures to return for his, starting with the trip to Leicester.
