The reason why Unai Emery was ‘proud’ of Leicester City win as Foxes lose at Aston Villa

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Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was under no illusion about how hard his side had to work to beat Leicester City on Saturday.

Goals from Ross Barkley and Leon Bailey either side of Stephy Mavididi’s equaliser inflicted a fifth straight defeat on the Foxes to leave them second from bottom in the Premier League.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
14	Man UtdManchester United	19	6	4	9	21	26	-5	22
15	Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace	19	4	8	7	20	27	-7	20
16	EvertonEverton	18	3	8	7	15	24	-9	17
17	WolvesWolves	19	4	4	11	31	42	-11	16
18	IpswichIpswich	19	3	6	10	18	33	-15	15
19	LeicesterLeicester	19	3	5	11	22	42	-20	14
20	SouthamptonSouthampton	19	1	3	15	12	39	-27	6

Leicester equalled an abysmal 22-year-record in which they have conceded two goals or more when losing five on the bounce.

Ruud van Nistelrooy subtly blamed James Justin for his mistake in the build up to the Villa winner in a fixture that could’ve seen the Foxes take home well-earned points.

Their opponents didn’t put in a vintage performance by any means and Emery acknowledged that during his post-match interview.

• READ MORE: Three things we learned from Aston Villa vs Leicester City as Foxes fall to fifth defeat in a row

Unai Emery full of praise for ‘difficult’ Leicester City

Villa have had an up and down season as they balance their Premier League and Champions League journey – something Leicester know all too well about from a campaign similar to them back in the 2016/17 season.

On another day, Leicester would’ve taken their chances and punished the hosts, who had to work to get the win and Emery admitted that Leicester made it hard for them.

Speaking to Match of the Day, he said: “We have to be proud of how we are doing, with the difficulties. The difficulties today were that Leicester City were performing well and it is difficult to beat them.”

Emery expanded on this in his post-match press conference, adding: ” How we played, we struggled in 90 minutes and Leicester competed very well. They defended very well. We didn’t perform like we wanted, but one reason was because they defended well.”

• READ MORE: Aston Villa vs Leicester City player ratings as two surprise stars emerge while full back disappoints again in fifth straight loss

Leicester City must use home advantage to their prevail in next two games

At the time of writing, Leicester remain two points adrift of safety with Ipswich Town and Wolves yet to play their games.

Whilst defeat is disappointing, they now have an opportunity to build some momentum with a run of home games.

Starting with an FA Cup fixture against Queens Park Rangers, Van Nistelrooy’s side then have back-to-back Premier League games at the King Power Stadium, facing Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Both games will be earmarked as winnable and given that Leicester’s fixtures are kinder than most of their rivals, a win is absolutely vital to kickstarting their season and securing their top flight status.