Leicester City have now lost consecutive games in the Premier League as they suffered a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa at the King Power on Saturday.
Steve Cooper‘s search for a first league win as Leicester City boss continues, with one point on the board after three Premier League games.
As we enter the first international break of the season Cooper will be given a chance to reflect on the opening weeks of the campaign and devise a plan for the next block of fixtures, starting with a trip to Crystal Palace in a fortnight.
Cooper made three changes to the side that lost 2-1 to Fulham last weekend as Leicester welcomed Champions League Aston Villa, with Oliver Skipp, Caleb Okoli and Jordan Ayew coming in as the Foxes also switched to a back four.
Skipp’s introduction saw Wilfred Ndidi pushed further forward to operate in the advanced midfielder role he played under Enzo Maresca last season but the Nigerian had an afternoon to forget.
Wilfred Ndidi poor as Leicester City lose to Aston Villa
Goals from Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran put Villa 2-0 up at the King Power before a first Leicester goal for loanee Facundo Buonanotte gave the Foxes faithful hope in the 73rd-minute.
An equaliser proved elusive, though, and one usually reliable performer could now find himself out of the side as Ndidi was poor in his 89 minutes.
Leicestershire Live certainly deemed this to be the case as they ranked Ndidi’s performance a four out of ten – the lowest of any player – before commenting: “He pressed Tielemans well at times but he really struggled on the ball in advanced areas, with his touch loose and attacks breaking down with him in possession. City can’t afford that.”
The numbers behind Ndidi’s Aston Villa display
Ndidi has been a really consistent performer for Leicester over his seven years at the club but it was a tough afternoon for him up against Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans on Saturday.
Even if he is not the best on the ball, Ndidi is normally a great disruptor but he won just three of his 11 duels against Aston Villa according to Sofascore.
To add to this, the 27-year-old was unsuccessful with both his dribbles, lost possession 16 times, made two fouls and was dribbled past twice in a concerning display.
Cooper will hope this is just a one-off and Ndidi can return to his best should he start against Palace, as a midfield of Skipp, Ndidi and Harry Winks has the potential to be a really solid trio.