Leicester City 1-0 Aston Villa

Paul Konchesky scored his first Premier League goal for 1945 days

• Leicester's second home league win of season

• Foxes unbeaten in 2015

• Villa lowest scorers in league

• James and Clark sent off in injury time

Bottom side Leicester City boosted their survival hopes with a second home Premier League win of the season against fellow strugglers Aston Villa.

Leicester striker David Nugent slotted wide when through on goal early on.

Nugent, the club's top scorer last season, hit the bar before Paul Konchesky volleyed in from 18 yards.

Leicester's Matt James was sent off for an injury-time lunge, while Villa's Ciaran Clark was shown a second yellow card for reacting in the aftermath.

James's tackle on Jores Okore sparked ugly scenes between the players but it was the first sign of any fight from Villa throughout.

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan pulled off a string of saves for the visitors as the deserved win moves Leicester just three points adrift of safety.

Aston Villa are now without a win in six Premier League games, scoring just one goal in that period, and are just three points clear of the bottom three after a dire away display.

Paul Lambert's men went into the match having failed to score in a league-high 11 of their 20 matches this season and they showed little sign of changing that with just one shot on target.

The Foxes have broken their club-record transfer fee on a striker, Andrej Kramaric, for a second time this season as the league's joint fourth-lowest goalscorers look for the firepower to provide them with top-flight salvation.

But, with Kramaric still awaiting a work permit, they were left rueing some early wastefulness as Nugent slotted wide with just Guzan to beat before heading wide from five yards.

Leicester dominated the opening half and, after Nugent volleyed against the bar, Konchesky deservedly broke the deadlock with a left-footed volley through a crowd of players from the edge of the penalty area.

The hosts continued to dominate in the second half and a poor Villa had Guzan to thank for keeping them in the game as he tipped James's diving header over the bar, before parrying Marc Albrighton's shot away.

James and Clark then saw red in the dying seconds as an impressive Leicester comfortably held on for a second league win in three matches.

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson:

"We deserved to win in a game that was not one of our better performances with the ball. We dominated the game in terms of chances and we feel unfortunate not to have had at least one penalty.

"The performances through our bad run were not poor, whether that is a case of being street-wise or being clinical in both boxes, which I'm sure it is.

"That is what playing in the Premier League is about. You need time to adapt. We have not had the luck our performances deserve. We have to turn this more positive run of results into an opportunity to climb the league."

Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert:

"We have to put it right, we have to do better in the last third. We have to keep working hard and hopefully it will come.

"We need creative lads to help the group. We have to do a lot better in the final third."

Aston Villa have won only twice in 17 league matches

Leicester had conceded at least two goals in six of their last eight league matches

Only two teams have ever scored fewer goals after 20 games of a Premier League season than Villa

There was a scuffle between the two substitutes' benches after the late red cards

Aston Villa have picked up red cards in four of their last six Premier League matches