A confident Leicester City side hosted Arsenal at the King Power Stadium last night. A win for the Foxes close their gap to leaders Liverpool and second placed Manchester City. However, if Arsenal sealed the 3 points, then they would be only 3 points off the top 4. A noticeable omission from the Gunners starting XI was new signing Nicolas Pepe who was benched.
Both sides had even chances at the start of the first half, with neither being able to convert them. Leicester had a penalty shout after Caglar Soyuncu was brought down in the box by Matteo Guezdouzi. However, the referee denied and VAR agreed with the on field decision. Lacazette had a clear chance in the 15th minute after the ball landed at his feet after a scramble in the box, but fired his shot wide. The first half ended goalless despite both teams having chances to open the scoring.
Th second half started and the Foxes took more of an attacking approach. And almost capitalised after Wilfried Ndidi’s strike hit the crossbar. In the 56th minute, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang found the back of the net but was ruled offside. In the 60th minute, Demarai Gray was brought on for Ayoze Perez and his substitution resulted positively for Leicester, as in the 68th minute, a cross was played by Ricardo Pereira into the path of Harvey Barnes, who flicked it to Tielemans, laying it off to Jamie Vardy who drilled the ball into the back of the net to give his side the lead.
And not later, in the 75th minute, a ball was played to Tielemans by Gray, who played it to Vardy, with the striker laying it off to James Maddison, whose low strike from the edge of the box drilled into the bottom left corner of the goal, to double the lead for the Foxes. Joe Willock and Nicolas Pepe were brought on immediately, but the changes couldn’t help the Gunners, as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat.
This win takes Brendan Rogers’ side to 2nd in the Premier League Table, 5 points behind leaders Liverpool. It is a very positive result for Leicester going into the international break. As for Unai Emery, his problems seem to be never ending as they are winless in their last 4 League matches. They sit 6th in the League table, 8 points off the top 4. The Gunners need to come back from the international break with a positive mindset and turn their season around.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Leicester City:
Kasper Schmeichel- 7
Ricardo Pereira- 8
Johnny Evans- 7
Caglar Soyuncu- 7
Ben Chilwell- 7
Wilfried Ndidi- 8
Ayoze Perez- 6
Youri Tielemans- 8
James Maddison- 9
Harvey Barnes- 7
Jamie Vardy- 9
Subs:
Demarai Gray- 7
Dennis Praet- 6
Arsenal:
Bernd Leno- 6
Rob Holding- 6
David Luiz- 5
Callum Chambers- 6
Hector Bellerin- 6
Lucas Torreira- 5
Matteo Guendouzi- 6
Saed Kolasinac- 6
Mesut Ozil- 7
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang- 6
Alexandre Lacazette- 6
Subs:
Nicolas Pepe- 6
Joe Willock- 6
