Aston Villa 2 Leicester City 1/Caribou Cup Semi final

In the absence of anything else I watched the second leg of Aston Villa v Leicester last night and was rewarded by a pulsating Midlands derby which Villa won in the dying embers.

Of interest to the neutral was the comparison between two of England’s brightest midfield prospects – James Maddison and Jack Grealish.

Grealish has a skill you see in numerous Argentinian midfielders but few English internationals – the capacity to dribble.

For this reason I would prefer him to Maddison who has the better strike.

Conversely Villa’s defender Tyrone Mings looks too languid for me for an international. I Gareth Southgate could choose John Stones who with a fit Almeric Laporte would make the Manchester City defence instead of him though he does not start for France.

With all the talk of fixture congestion and fatigue Villa will be delighted to be going to Wembley and more importantly so will their fans.