At least this result prevented Aston Villa from losing a fifth successive game the week before they are reunited with Dean Smith, who was dismissed in November after a similar sequence.
While Steven Gerrard could find solace from stopping the rot, Leicester were able to reintroduce Jamie Vardy for a late cameo ahead of Thursday’s Europa Conference League semi-final first leg against Roma.
Villa’s improved defensive showing, in their first goalless draw of the season, means they can welcome Norwich with the pressure off next week, while the verdict on Leicester’s season will depend far more on their first European semi-final than this mid-table derby.
Leicester have played four times since Villa lost 4-0 at home to Tottenham a fortnight ago so Brendan Rodgers was not disappointed with his team’s showing. He also refrained from promising Vardy, returning after six weeks out with a knee injury, would start against José Mourinho’s team on Thursday.
“He brings an extra dimension to the game [but] he hasn’t trained a great deal,” the Leicester manager said. “So it was good to get him back out on to the field again. We’ll see how he is, how he recovers, but we’ll be careful. He’s been out for a period. We don’t want to risk it if we don’t need to.”
The biggest cheer of the first half came when Vardy ventured out to warm up. To say it was a quiet opening period would be an understatement, but after Villa’s run of consecutive defeats that suited Gerrard down to the ground.
“We were compact, very organised,” the Villa manager said. “The big plus from today was the clean sheet. We haven’t had enough of them this season and if you can’t win at places like this, [it’s important to] get something.
“So I’m satisfied with our defensive performance and I think over the 90 minutes we probably edged it on chances as well. So it’s a positive point. We came here to win but it was important to stop the losing run so this gives us a basis to work from.”
Reverting to fielding Ollie Watkins as a lone striker, Villa played with a much more compact shape than in recent games, restricting themselves to a half press, with Philippe Coutinho doing defensive doggy runs between James Justin and Youri Tielemans rather than sparkling intermittently at the tip of a diamond. Gerrard adapted by getting his wide men out wider to stop Leicester’s dominance down the flanks. Yet it was Villa who had the best chance of the half, in the eighth minute. Watkins did well, picking up a misheaded clearance from Wesley Fofana, whose vision was affected by the bright sunshine, and driving past the defender to reach the byline from where he pulled the ball back for Leon Bailey. The less said about the winger’s wildly lofted shot the better.
In stoppage time, James Maddison swerved the free-kick he won off Ashley Young just wide, but Villa, in their first away draw of the season, looked heartened by this tightening up and came out sharply in the second half. Watkins got away from Fofana again but dragged his cross-shot wide. He then went at Timothy Castagne down the inside-right channel and pummelled a shot that rebounded off Kasper Schmeichel’s chest for a corner.
Leicester responded by introducing Vardy. But Villa coped well with the former England striker’s reintroduction and finished the game strongly, dominating possession in the opposition half. Emiliano Buendía, on as a substitute, shot wide from a rare sighting of goal.
Rodgers added: “We tired a bit late on, after all the games we’ve had, but that’s when you’ve got to show your resilience and if you can’t find the breakthrough, make sure you don’t lose.”
Gerrard confirmed that Michael Beale, his assistant head coach, attended the game after his wife and three children had been involved in a car accident on the M1. “Thankfully Michael’s family are OK but it certainly shook them up,” he said. “I’ve said many times that the only thing above football is family. So we said to Michael to go away and prioritise his family. He did. Thankfully they are in a good place and it sums Mick up that he was desperate to get back and help the team.”
