Leicester City

We asked for your reaction to Leicester City avoiding a points deduction this season, after the club successfully appealed an alleged breach of the Premier League Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules.

Here are some of your thoughts:

Andy: A just decision. We sold top quality players, got relegated, and fought on the pitch to get ourselves back to the Premier League. We are miles behind all of the clubs in the Premier League, who have been able to retain their squads and improve them. Let's banish the rules and let results on the pitch determine each team's fate.

Rich: I'm very pleased. It has been ridiculous having this hanging over us for months. If this decision had been made a lot earlier, it might have had a real effect on our recruitment of not only players but the management too.

Liz: I'm so happy - this has just been hanging over us. Financial Fair Play needs to be looked at and modified. It is so unfair to the mid- and lower-table clubs who are trying to at least vaguely compete with the top six. Now we can concentrate on staying up!

Tony: We don't know the full details, but it appears to be a technicality. I'm glad because the rules seemed to be all about stopping teams outside of the 'Big Six' from competing with the 'Big Six'.

JG: As a Leicester fan, I find it embarrassing. Due to incompetence, we breached the rules. However, instead of accepting it, it seems we tried to swindle our way out of it. Legally we may have a point, but morally I think it is quite disrespectful to the other teams.

Nick: A decade on from showing that smaller clubs could be successful on the pitch, this is a massive victory. Hopefully this allows Leicester City, and other ambitious teams, to compete with the big boys once again.

Kay: Fantastic! A victory for the 'little' clubs. It's about time the playing field was made equal. Come on you Blues.

Leicester have won an appeal against a decision that could have led to a points deduction for an alleged breach of Premier League Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules.

An independent panel found the Premier League did not have the jurisdiction to punish the club.

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Leicester City have been charged by the Football Association after their 2-1 Premier League defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday.

In a statement, the FA said: "It's alleged that the club failed to ensure its players did not behave in an improper way around the 93rd minute."

The Foxes have until 5 September to provide a response.

After the match, referee David Coote left the field to a chorus of boos from the Leicester fans, who felt the hosts should have been awarded a late chance to equalise from the penalty spot when Ezri Konsa upended Jamie Vardy - although the veteran striker appeared to be just offside when Bilal El Khannouss played the ball.

"It's a tough one to take," said boss Steve Cooper, who was also unhappy with Coote's decision to award Villa a free-kick for Oliver Skipp's challenge on Ollie Watkins before the visitors' opener.

"It's something you have to contend with, but you take a deep breath and accept that’s how it is.

"We’ve seen more than enough in the three performances to feel like we're going to be OK [in the Premier League]. We’re disappointed with the defeat, but if we stay as we are and improve in areas we want to, we’ll be all right."

Chris Forryan
Fan writer

First of all this week I want to say rest in peace to former Foxes player Sol Bamba. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

On the field and after defeat to Aston Villa, Steve Cooper was not happy with the standard of refereeing in the Premier League, claiming: "Everybody in the stadium would have got booked if the ref had got round to it. I’ve accepted refereeing is where it is."

Why is he surprised, it’s not as if anyone in the blue of Leicester was expecting anything different. Blaming the ref is an easy cop out and I do believe Aston Villa were playing under the same officials.

I do hope Cooper isn’t turning into Rodgers 2.0 and starting to blame everything but himself?

We have played 90 mins of really good football so far this season in the league, unfortunately that was two lots of 45 out of three games.

Cooper claims the plan was always to turn to a more attacking option during the game. Err Steve, could we not have started that way? Cooper’s away record in the Premier League is abysmal so it looks like we will have to rely on home form.

Away to Fulham, well they were simply the better team, we weren't at the races and they looked like what they are - an established Premier League team with an established manager and squad. They deserved the three points.

Against Spurs we had a striker on the wing, and when we made subs our best winger ended up playing as a striker? Against Villa, a home game, we started with three defensive midfielders.

It doesn’t matter where you play them, they are what they are. Defensive midfielders. We are at home, what was the plan? Yes we changed things and when we finally made the subs we brought on some attacking players but by then we were two down.

We must start being proactive and not reactive.

Find more from Chris Forryan at Leicester Till I Die, external

The latest episode of When You're Smiling has dropped - and it is all about Leicester City's current midfield set-up, after manager Steve Cooper played two central defensive midfielders, with Wilfred Ndidi in the central attacking midfielder role, against Aston Villa.

There is also an exclusive interview with new arrival Bilal El Khannouss on completing his £20m move from Genk and making his debut for the Foxes.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

BBC Sport's chief football writer Phil McNulty has been answering your questions.

Lawrence asked: I know it's only been three games but how do think the three promoted teams have fared so far? Do you think any will stay up now?

Phil answered: Not seen anything to change my mind yet, Lawrence, although the way teams like Everton have started will give them all hope.

I fancy Ipswich and Leicester to pick up points at home to give themselves a chance, but I do worry about Southampton's passing style in the Premier League – and I know I'm not the first to say that.

Brentford showed exactly how to play against them by pressing them into mistakes as they passed it around at the back on Saturday and you can be sure others will follow suit.

Southampton manager Russell Martin is unmoved and will stick to his style – but if they keep losing then there will have to be pragmatic adjustments, otherwise they will be in big trouble.

Odsonne Edouard says he is "very happy" to have joined Leicester City on a season-long loan from Crystal Palace.

Speaking to the Foxes' in-house media, 26-year-old Edouard said: "I'm very happy to be here and I'm looking forward to starting with my new team-mates and try to win and score some goals.

"I am a striker, it's what anybody can expect from me. So I will try to do my best, I will try to help the team."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, PA Media

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Leicester and Aston Villa.

Here are some of your comments:

Leicester fans

Chris: I don’t understand why Cooper sets us up so negatively. I never expected Bilal El Khannouss to start, but we looked so much better with Stephy Mavididi and Facundo Buonanotte on the pitch that you have to wonder why they didn’t start. It’s starting to feel a bit like when we’re good it’s in spite of Cooper, not because of him.

Rob: Questionable starting line up with all the creativity on the bench. We were always going to go 2-0 behind before changes that should have happened earlier. The referee was woeful and really didn’t help the game to flow and continually got in the way! Some optimism from a couple of new faces. Onwards and upwards - we can’t have a poor ref every week.

Reuben: Pity we couldn't complete the comeback, but I think that's a good result considering how good Villa have been over the last few seasons.

Filbert: Can't afford to be scored against first. Way too much to ask this season for a comeback. Not showing enough to survive. The obvious points deduction is hovering over our heads. Not expecting much but going down again. Need three teams to be worse than we are, with no point deduction. Keep the faith.

Villa fans

Dean: Brilliant result. When Arsenal beat us last week in a game I’d say we were slightly the better team, everyone praised Arsenal's resilience. We won here despite not being at our best. With key players coming back and Ollie Watkins' return to goalscoring imminent, it’s a great sign for Villa fans.

Josh: Hard-fought win in the end and we were lucky Jamie Vardy’s antics didn’t cost us. Watkins needs a reality check and I’d give the loose canon Jhon Duran a start. Already a worry we didn’t buy another striker.

Grizzly: The standards Unai Emery sets, his ideology. method and mentality have turned Villa into a formidable machine but he will have an important descion to make regarding Watkins given his lack of composure and edge in front of goal. He's now missed three killer chances in the past two games whereas Duran has a view to a kill and will demand a start.

Adam: Villa got the job done today. Away against a promoted side is rarely easy but we did what we had to to take the points home. Just hope Leon Bailey and Amadou Onana's injuries aren’t bad.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Leicester defender Matt Heath says Steve Cooper's players are doing "all they can" to impose themselves on the Premier League but feels the squad is "lacking that little bit of quality".

The Foxes have one point from three games heading into the international break after a 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday.

"It's so early in the season," Heath told BBC Radio Smiling's When You're Smiling podcast. "It's not gonna define where we finish at the end of the season.

"However, we need to make the King Power our fortress. Yes, Aston Villa are a Champions League team this season but in a game where it is very 50/50 in possession, we need to be that little bit more clinical.

"From a fans' points of view, the boys are doing all they can. We are just lacking that little bit of quality or those patterns of play that will get us into dangerous areas.

"Two weeks on the training field hopefully just changes things with a couple of favourable home games coming up.

"My worry is that we're talking about all this defensive work that these lads are doing and we still let two goals in. The first goal again was from switching off at a set piece. It was really poor. They have to see the block coming and be switched on.

"That shouldn't happen at Premier League level.

"The whole overall defensive work ethic and stealing of the ball was good. It is just the two penalty areas that are going to determine how we do this year."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Leicester are making a habit of starting slowly so far this season.

They had just one shot in the first half against Aston Villa and that was in the 44th minute (Villa had scored one goal and had six shots by then).

They also only had just one shot in the first half in their opening game against Spurs.

In all this season, they've had seven shots in the opening half and 19 after the break.

Steve Cooper spoke to BBC Radio Leicester after Saturday's defeat to Aston Villa, and was confident results will come for his side despite a second defeat in three Premier League games.

The Foxes had more possession than the visitors but were stung by goals from Andre Onana and Jhon Duran and could not rescue a point despite Facundo Buonanotte's late strike.

"I really felt that when Villa got in it was from our comfortable possession and turnovers," said Cooper. "They looked more of a counter-attack team than anything else.

"Half-time we felt really in control of the game and were annoyed of being one down. We identified some spaces second half where we could continue to get into good areas and that was the case.

"Then the second goal was a blow because it was one of the only times of them being in our half with numbers up the pitch.

"The fans were brilliant, atmosphere was brilliant and we looked a force on and off the pitch. It felt like we would get something out of the game.

"It's obviously a tough, tough start in terms of results from the first three games, but I believe there has been more than enough in our performances to show us we will be more than all right."

Watch all the highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures with Gary and the team.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Leicester 1-2 Aston Villa

• West Ham 1-3 Man City

In the latest episode of When You're Smiling, former Leicester defender Matt Heath analyses the home defeat to Aston Villa, plus hear reaction from Foxes boss Steve Cooper.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport Football News Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester boss Steve Cooper criticised the standard of refereeing and believes it is "behind the curve" in the Premier League.

The Foxes manager was unhappy with several decisions by official David Coote in their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday.

Goals from Amadou Onana and Jhon Duran gave Villa victory, with Facundo Buonanotte pulling one back for the hosts.

Cooper was booked for protesting when Leicester were not awarded a penalty after Jamie Vardy went down under a challenge by Youri Tielemans.

There were several other decisions the Foxes were unhappy with, including the decision to penalise Oliver Skipp for bringing down Ollie Watkins for the free-kick which led to Villa's opener.

"Everybody in the stadium would have got booked if the ref had got round to it. I’ve accepted refereeing is where it is," Cooper said.

"You see it clearly that it’s behind the curve, the Premier League is the best league in the world in terms of domestic football but the refereeing, for a number of years, has been trying to catch up with that.

"You accept this is how it is and this is part of our modern game. You just keep fingers crossed because of where refereeing is. You keep your fingers crossed every week it doesn’t go against you.

"You can talk about isolated decisions but what I will talk about is the managers' meeting we had in pre-season, the club visits you have from referees, the FA, LMA and Premier League.

"The clear message was the threshold of tackles and duels, although we never want the game to be dangerous, was going to be raised.

"Then we get that. Then it’s just another reminder of we are where we are with refereeing."

Matthew Howarth
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester were pushing for a late equaliser against Aston Villa on Saturday, but ultimately Steve Cooper's side paid the price for a slow start at King Power Stadium.

Villa would have been out of sight at half-time had it not been for goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who denied Ollie Watkins on several occasions in the first half.

Amadou Onana's goal was the difference between the teams at the interval, and Jhon Duran doubled Villa's lead against the run of play to leave the Foxes staring at a second successive top-flight defeat.

Facundo Buonanotte gave them hope with his first goal for the club, but it was too little, too late for Steve Cooper's side - who were unhappy with referee David Coote in the second half.

The official had already ruled out a Jamie Vardy effort after Harry Winks' pass had struck him in the build-up, but he incurred the wrath of the home supporters again when he failed to award Leicester a penalty after Vardy had gone down under Ezri Konsa's challenge.

Vardy appeared to be just offside from Bilal El Khannouss's through-ball, but Coote still left the field to a chorus of boos at the full-time whistle.

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport Football News Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester's commitment and grit will never be in doubt.

They were applauded off after Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa and the unity at the King Power Stadium will be something which will help this season but moments of quality are sparse.

Boss Steve Cooper bemoaned the fine margins which have seen the Foxes lose their last two games and believes Leicester have shown they can compete in the top flight again.

Trips to Crystal Palace and Arsenal do not make it any easier so there will already - externally at least - be a growing focus on Everton's visit on 21 September.

On Saturday Leicester did not do enough to trouble Villa and, while they may take issue with the award of the free kick which led to Amadou Onana's opener, they switched off at crucial times.

Yes, Facundo Buonanotte made it a contest before the end but the ruthlessness Cooper had called for was missing.

Villa were not at their best which makes the defeat even more frustrating, with the only moments of quality the goals. But those are the fine margins Leicester need to bridge and on Saturday it proved too much.

The game was similar to the opening 1-1 draw with Tottenham, where Leicester grew into the game, but, this time, there are no rewards.

They have, at least, not faced those who may be considered relegation rivals and there will be no panic setting in.

Image source, Getty Images

Since keeping three consecutive clean sheets at the King Power in October 2022, Leicester have failed to keep one in any of their last 15 home Premier League games.

Only between February 1939 and February 1955 have the Foxes gone longer without a home clean sheet in the top-flight (a run of 22 games).

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester manager Steve Cooper, speaking to Match of the Day: "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.

"We’ve not just gone toe-to-toe with a Champions League team, we’ve also looked a better team than them. It’s a tough one to take. It’s three games now without a win, which is obviously not what we wanted.

"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]. We’re disappointed with the defeat, but if we stay as we are and improve in areas we want to, we’ll be all right."

On referee David Coote: "It’s just something that you accept. That’s how it is across the league. When you see it a bit more casually, you notice it even more. It’s something you have to contend with, but you take a deep breath and accept that’s how it is.

"You’ll tell by the reaction of the supporters. We had a managers’ meeting at the start of the season about the threshold of challenges. The threshold is going to be higher, and today was the complete opposite."

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Leicester fans, have your say on the Foxes' performance, external

What did you make of the display, Villa fans?, external

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

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• Leicester v Aston Villa

• West Ham v Man City