Leicester City beat Villarreal as Steve Cooper gives them 24 players at the end of pre-season

Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi scored as Leicester City beat Villarreal 2-1 behind closed doors on Saturday.

Billed as a training exercise ahead of the first official pre-season game at Shrewsbury on Tuesday, City and their Spanish opponents played four 30-minute periods, allowing Steve Cooper to hand game time to at least 24 players. With an assured victory, he ended City’s training camp in Evian-les-Bains on a high.

Vardy captained the team that started the match at the Stade Camille Fournier and also opened the scoring. James Justin flew down the left flank to Harry Souttar’s pass and squared the ball where Vardy was on hand to finish first time.

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Villarreal were quickly level with Souttar turning into his own net. Attempting to cut a pass across the six-yard box, the Australia international slid in, inadvertently tipping the ball over the line.

For the second hour, City changed their entire 11 and they got a winner. Conor Coady flicked a long ball over the top with Mavididi expertly knocking it down. He waited for support but then went off on his own, curling into the bottom corner on the edge of the box.

Tuesday’s match at Croud Meadow will reveal more of City’s set-up, but highlights from Saturday’s test suggested they lined up in a 4-4-2 in possession, but potentially with full-backs in possession.

Danny Ward, Brandon Cover, Harry Souttar, Caleb Okoli, James Justin, Harry Winks, Wilfred Ndidi, Abdul Fatawu, Wanya Marcal, Tom Cannon and Jamie Vardy started the game, with Will Alves substituted. For the second hour, the line-up was Daniel Iversen, Ricardo Pereira, Ben Nelson, Conor Coady, Luke Thomas, Hamza Choudhury, Boubakary Soumare, Kasey McAteer, Michael Golding, Stephy Mavididi and Patson Daka, with Silko Thomas brought in later. .

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