Aston Villa v Leicester City: Premier League – live!

45 min: Schmeichel climbs highest to palm away a Villa corner. One minute added on at the end of the half.

44 min: Villa pushing on to make their half-time team talk a little less full of colourful metaphors from Dean Smith. His team have worked hard but lacked inspiration. And defensive quality at key moments.

42 min: Villa free-kick, which Targett booms in. It comes to naught and Barnes sends Vardy away. But Castagne is cleaned out by Targett who has come back to defend.

40 min: Leicester corner, taken short and then Maddison is offside. That’s poor, schoolboy stuff from them. Evans and Soyuncu had bothered sauntered up.

39 min: Leicester take up possession for a long time, and their spell is only broken up by a foul on Thomas.

37 min: Watkins is running the channels well for Villa but Castagne is wise to him on this occasion.

35 min: From the latest Villa corner. Soyuncu heads the ball straight into the path of McGinn. Thankfully for Leicester, McGinn’s shot is as bad as Soyuncu’s header.

34 min: Leicester sitting back a little, looking to play on the counter. Villa starting to force a series of corners.

32 min: Villa get a corner. Can they get something from a set play? It comes out to Douglas Luiz and Konsa really might have done better from the cross. That was going begging. Leicester are a bit wobbly at the back under those kind of pressures.

30 min: Villa look a tad shellshocked, understandable in the circumstances. The Grealish factor cannot be discounted but they have not defended at all well.

27 min: Barnes again causing problems before Maddison has a shot blocked. Leicester are pushing on for another. And possibly another after that.

26 min: Villa have sat off, but Elmohamady has had no answer to Barnes whenever the Leicester winger has got the ball.

24 min: Awesome stuff from Leicester, slack from Villa. This could get embarrassing.

21 min: Luke Thomas in the wars as he gets a whack in the midriff from McGinn. Totally accidental and all is fine between the two protagonists once the teenager gets back up.

20 min: Not a bad audition for Maddison with Gareth Southgate in the stands. He’d not done done much until that point, but that was a mark of his excellence, and the unselfishness of Harvey Barnes.

17 min: Villa chance snuffed out by Thomas’ tackling. Watkins was shaping to score. El Ghazi had escaped down the left.

16 min: Vardy, for all Leicester’s excellence, has been quiet. Though that’s his game these days, to sit and wait for his moment.

14 min: Castagne is felled by McGinn. Villa forced back once more. Maddison takes the free-kick, and it’s headed out. Leicester push on again.

12 min: No Jack Grealish means Villa have nobody to carry the ball. And they are suffering for it.

11 min: Barnes makes a typical run off the left, and opens up to shoot. Konsa does well to deflect the ball behind. Then Ricardo takes on a shot and the ball comes off Elmohamady and goes behind. All Leicester.

9 min: Villa are sitting back deep, as well they might with Jamie Vardy in the opposition. And Harvey Barnes.

7 min: Thomas, who has started well, tries to pass it through to a galloping Barnes, but Villa get it clear.

6 min: First Villa attack and Watkins holds up the ball well, though there are not enough players around him to recycle the ball.

5 min: Villa concede a corner, what can Leicester produce? The ball comes out to Thomas, who whacks it with real venom. Another corner that Thomas again gets but his cross back into the box is cleared.

3 min: Leicester are playing two right backs in Castagne and Ricardo, which seems a plan designed for Jack Grealish, who isn’t here, of course. Luke Thomas is playing left back.

1 min: And away we go…Ricardo gets forward and seizes on a flick by Tielemans, and his shot is saved by Martinez.

Rick Harris has been in touch: “With Jack Grealish unfortunately out for Villa it is a fabulous chance for Ross Barkley to remind Gareth Southgate that he too should be considered for the Euros squad. Big game for Leicester to stake their second place credentials and hope Manchester United slip up against Newcastle in the late show.”

Dean Smith speaks, and the subject is, of course, the absence of Jack Grealish.

Yeah, he’s had some discomfort in training and we didn’t think he was right to play. We don’t believe it’s a long term problem. It’s on his leg. I have no idea how long. We are assessing, I am hopeful for Leeds but I an always the eternal optimist. It’s a challenge, but also an opportunity.

Brendan Rodgers speaks.

Yeah, we have been playing well with good results. We just have to focus. They are a very good team and they have a player who is a special talent. He’s hard to replace but Dean has a strong squad and will rely on the collective. It’s going to be a tight game.

News from the Championship here. Significant news too.

For Leicester, Timothy Castagne’s back at left back after his hamstring problem with Ricardo Pereira also back, and that’s timely in the light of James Justin’s long-term injury.

Anwar El Ghazi replaces Grealish, while Ahmed Elmohamady comes in for Matty Cash, who will also be a big loss to Villa.

And the big news there is *no* Jack Grealish. He will also miss their next game against Leeds. The word is an injury. That makes things all the tougher for Dean Smith. And opens the floor to James Maddison.