Goals from David Luiz, Alexandre Lacazette, and Nicolas Pepe helped the Gunners to win against Leicester City on Sunday. This was their second win in their last five Premier League games.
Arteta came to this match with a few changes to his starting line-up as he rested their Talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, their young superstar Bakuyo Saka and also an in-form Martin Odegaard. He also kept out Hector Bellerin, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Dani Ceballos.
While Arteta gave these players rest for this match, Nicolas Pepe, Willian, and Alexander Lacazette started for the team. Other than that, Mohamed Elneny, Mari Villar, and Cedric Soares also got their chance in the starting line-up.
Arsenal began the match with a sloppy start as they conceded a goal in just the 6th minute of the match as Tielemans scored for Leicester City. But after conceding that goal, Arsenal fought back by scoring three goals during the match and didn’t gave another chance to score as they won by 3-1 against a decent-looking Leicester City team who missed their star play-maker James Maddison on the pitch.
This win means that Arsenal are now sitting at the 10th position in the points table with 37 points just two points ahead of Leeds United, who are currently sitting at the 11th position. Leicester City has still kept their top three position, sitting at 3rd position with 49 points.
ARSENAL PLAYERS’ REPORT
Brend Leno didn’t have the best of the matches as he struggled a bit in saving the shots from distance especially in the first half. He was also pretty sloppy with the ball at his feet as he nearly lost the ball to Jamie Vardy which would have resulted in Leicester City’s second goal.
The Defense line had a pretty decent game against the foxes. David Luiz had a good game as he not only matched Vardy’s pace from behind and stopped him from scoring but also helped the team offensively by scoring the equalizing goal. Pablo Mari too had a good game as he recovered the ball and used his physical strength to stop Leicester City’s attack from scoring and also he looked confident with the ball at his feet.
Cedric Soares looked a bit sloppy in the beginning as he played some loose passes but as the match moved forward he became more and more confident at his game by recovering the ball and was also seen moving forward to attack. And with all the rumors surrounding Hector Bellerin’s transfer, he will try his best to get a place in the starting line-up, replacing Bellerin. Kieran Tierney, who looked unfit in the previous matches looked good in this match especially offensively as he helped Willian in creating chances for the team to score. Still, his defensive game was a little off in the start as he let Tielemans move freely through the line as they conceded early but like Cedric, he improved as the match progressed. He also got a yellow card at the 92nd minute of the match.
The defense line was well supported by the midfielders as they had a pretty decent game. Emile Smith-Rowe had a pretty good run in the game as he passed really well and was also running into spaces to pick the ball until an injury caused him to go off the pitch just before the end of the first half. Granit Xhaka for once looked tired and lacked pass but still recovered the ball many times and made some good tackles to stop Leicester’s counter-attack especially at the ending minutes of the game. Mohamed Elneny again had a poor display of performance as he played too defensively and was conservative in possession and delayed some of Arsenal’s chances to attack.
But the players who shone throughout the match were the attack unit consisting of Nicolas Pepe, Willian and Alexander Lacazette especially Nicolas Pepe, who had a great game after warming the bench for a couple of matches. He forced Brendon Rogers to get his best players Luke Thomas and Ricardo Perreira to stick with him in the first and the second half respectively and still couldn’t stop him as he ran through their defense during the whole match and scored a goal and was an essential part in scoring the other two goals too and securing them a win.
Willian too had a good game as he was instrumental in Arsenal’s victory as he had assisted the first and the third goal and the Gunners fans will be hoping to see for of his antics in the Arsenal’s shirt in the future. The one who spearheaded this attack was Alexander Lacazette, who was replacing their Talisman Aubameyang for this game and he didn’t disappoint and he was pretty good in linking up the game and led the team upfront and also scored a penalty goal. So, overall he had a pretty good game.
But he was eventually replaced by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the 83rd minute, still couldn’t make any impact in the game. Whereas, Martin Odegaard, who replaced the injured Smith-Rowe in the 42nd minute had a pretty good influence on the game he helped Arsenal to score their 3rd goal and was vital in the midfield especially while the team counter-attacked in the second half of the game. Other than that, Thomas Partey came on to the field in the 66th minute replacing Mohamed Elneny and made things more difficult for Leicester City who were trying to make a comeback during the second half.
MATCH TO LOOK FORWARD
On Saturday, Arsenal will be visiting Turf Moor as they will be facing Burnley, who are currently sitting in 15th position with 28 points. They are having a poor run-of-form as they have just won one match in their previous five matches and Arteta will look forward to keep their winning momentum alive and get those 3 points and to stay at the top half of the League.
