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• Emery praises Duran's start to the season

  Unai Emery praised Jhon Duran’s attitude as the striker scored again in Aston Villa’s 2-1 victory away to Leicester.

  Duran was the subject of heavy interest during the transfer window, with both West Ham and Chelsea reported to be interested in signing the Columbian.

  But the 20-year-old remained at the club and has scored two goals in the first three games of the season, having scored the winner on the opening day against West Ham, and Emery reserved praise for Duran after the victory over Leicester.

  The Spaniard said: He is focused, I didn't need to speak a lot about his future [during the window]. He is focused here. He has trained very well and is playing very well, doing the work we planned. He is scoring goals. Fantastic."

  Emery also was pleased with the performance of right back Lamare Bogarde – the 20 year-old made his first Premier League start after Matty Cash’s injury last week.

  “He played being comfortable”, said Emery.

  “When we use different young players, when we will need them they must be ready. Bogarde, he has qualities to play there [right-back] and to do well. He played well."

  Villa have continued their strong away form at the start of this season, and they have recorded 16 wins since Emery took charge, with only Manchester City and Arsenal having more victories.

  The Spaniard believes the passionate Villa support on the road has played a huge role, saying: “We spoke about our supporters and that we always feel good away because we feel them. We have to be happy but keep going."

  Leicester boss Steve Cooper did not believe the result was a fair one for his side.

  Cooper told BBC Sport: "I thought we looked a good team at times today. We definitely didn’t deserve to lose the game. For the first goal, we need to own the set play – but it should never have been a free-kick.

  "In the three games we’ve seen, we’ve seen more than enough in the performances to feel like we’re going to be OK [in the Premier League]."

• Leicester 1-2 Aston Villa: Emery's men record narrow victory

  Aston Villa held on to secure a second Premier League victory of the season, winning 2-1 away at Leicester City courtesy of goals from Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran.

  Leicester – who have only managed to collect one point from their opening three Premier League fixtures – faced an Unai Emery side who were in no mood to be charitable at the King Power Stadium.

  The visitors were on top for much of Saturday’s encounter and they opened their account with a well-worked free-kick routine that resulted in a second goal of the campaign for midfielder Onana after 28 minutes.

  Villa doubled their lead after the break when Duran made an immediate impact from the bench, heading in beautifully from Lucas Digne’s centre, but Steve Cooper’s men were not done yet and a sub of their own, Facundo Buonanotte, slammed in from close range to set up a nervy finish.

  Leicester pushed for an equaliser but Villa secured a hard-fought win that sees them move up to sixth position on six points ahead of the international break, with the Foxes still waiting for a first win since promotion.

  Data Debrief: Villa dominance secures win

  Villa were dominant throughout, with an xg of 1.48 to Leicester's 0.39, while they also created a total of four big chances in comparison to the home side's one.

  Emery's men have now won their first two away games for the fourth time in the Premier League era, having achieved the feat in 2009-10, 2014-15 and 2020-21.

   

• Emery tempers top six aspirations ahead of East Midlands derby

  Unai Emery admitted Aston Villa will do everything in their power to reach the top six this season as they prepare to face Leicester City on Saturday. 

  Emery watched on as his side suffered their first defeat of the Premier League season, losing 2-0 to Arsenal at Villa Park despite creating the better chances. 

  Last season's top scorer, Ollie Watkins, endured a difficult spell in front of goal, squandering two golden opportunities either side of the half-time interval. 

  But the Villains' head coach was confident his players will improve but acknowledged the difficulty of replicating last season's fourth-place finish in the division. 

  "I accept the result today because we are doing our way and trying to improve our things and develop as well. It is the second day in the Premier League," Emery said.

  "There's still work to do. We will improve and use those matches we played against West Ham and today to understand our way. We will try to be in the top 10, the top six.

  "I am happy and if we were scoring goals then maybe we would be winning. With Arsenal, we feel we are close to getting a performance. The players will stay calm and have two days rest and then get ready for the match against Leicester."

  Leicester were involved in EFL Cup action in midweek, producing a dominant 4-0 triumph over League Two side Tranmere Rovers at the King Power Stadium. 

  The Foxes bounced back from their 2-1 defeat to Fulham in the Premier League, with new signing Jordan Ayew among the scorers on Tuesday.

  Ayew was one of two new faces on show, with midfielder Oliver Skipp, who arrived from Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, also handed his Leicester debut. 

  Steve Cooper expressed his delight at the attitude shown by his players during the contest, and is keen for them to carry that into their meeting with Villa on Saturday.

  “The most important thing is to win and play well. We had real dominance from start to finish," Cooper said. 

  "Jordan (Ayew) made it happen with his goal, which is obviously a wonderful strike and good for him to get off the mark on his debut, but we needed more moments in the final third, whether it was one vs. one or combination work.

  "The expectation is to play well. That starts with the right attitude, and I think we showed that mentality in the game tonight, which should be non-negotiable.”

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Leicester – Jamie Vardy

  Jamie Vardy has been involved in 98 Premier League goals at the King Power Stadium (71 goals and 27 assists), scoring their equaliser on the opening day against Spurs.

  The veteran striker is looking to become the 14th player to have 100+ goal involvements at a single venue, while since 2014-15, only Mohamed Salah at Anfield (128) and Kevin De Bruyne at the Etihad (111) have more goals and assists at a venue than Vardy at the King Power.

  Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins

  After enduring an uncharacteristically difficult day in front of goal against Arsenal, Watkins will be hopeful of halting his goal drought against the Foxes. 

  Watkins has now gone seven Premier League appearances without a goal for Villa, his longest barren run since an eight-game run between August and October 2022, just prior to Emery’s arrival.

  MATCH PREDICTION: ASTON VILLA WIN

  Villa are expected to bounce back in the East Midlands derby, winning 48.5% of Opta's data-led simulations, with Leicester prevailing in just 27.4% of those instances.

  The Foxes, however, have lost just seven of their 28 Premier League meetings with Saturday's opponents (W11 D10), their lowest loss rate against any side they’ve faced 20+ times in the competition (25%).

  But keeping goals out has proved to be a problem. Since a run of five clean sheets in six Premier League games prior to the 2022 World Cup break, Leicester have kept just one clean sheet in their last 25 matches in the top flight.

  Cooper has also failed to win either of his first two league games in charge of Leicester (D1 L1); the last Foxes manager to win none of his opening three was Paulo Sousa in August 2010.

  But since Emery's arrival at Villa Park, he has enjoyed playing away from the West Midlands. Only Man City (23) and Arsenal (20) have won more away games than Villa (15).

  Villa are also looking to win their opening two away matches in a Premier League season for a fourth time, previously doing so in 2009-10, 2014-15 and 2020-21. But they will be hopeful of doing so with a clean sheet, having gone seven top flight games without a shutout.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Leicester – 27.4%

  Draw – 24%

  Aston Villa – 48.5%