BARNES: VILLA HAD THAT DEFEAT COMING TO THEM

HARVEY BARNES believes another heavy mauling by Leicester was payback time for Aston Villa.

The Foxes won 4-0 to add to their 4-1 triumph at Villa Park in December – but it’s the Carabao Cup semi-final defeat which still haunts them.

Villa snatched a Wembley trip with a stoppage-time goal in January, and Barnes (above) admits that floored Brendan Rodgers’ men.

The 22-year-old scored his first ever double for Leicester on Monday night and underlined why people are starting to talk about him.

He has scored six in 2020 and is even being linked with a possible England call-up.

Barnes revealed that the hurt of their Carabao Cup KO was mentioned in the dressing room, saying: “Yeah. It was a motivation point for us. We were all so disappointed.

“That was probably one of the lowest points of the season so far. So for us to bounce back the way we did was great. We knew we owed them one and that showed in our performance. It was a big match in more ways than one.

“The last time we played them in the Carabao Cup, we were gutted at how that went – plus we were going into this game on the back of a few poor results as well.

“Obviously they were coming here fighting for their lives at the minute. But we wanted to get revenge, so it was going to be a big game and we knew that.”

Academy product Barnes is flourishing under Rodgers and is delighted to be scoring.

Victory over Villa ended a disappointing run of four games without a win in the Premier League and kept the Foxes right in the running for a Champions League spot.

Barnes said: “The first part of the season I was performing well but the goals weren’t coming. Now since the turn of the year the goals have been flowing in.

“I obviously want to score as many as I can so it’s been a really good start to the new year. The goals are definitely boosting my confidence.“