Gunners do the necessary against unambitious Leicester

 

Leicester 0 Arsenal 1   
Premier League   
Saturday 25th February 2023 3pm   

After the recent slump that saw a just one point gained from three matches, wins at Villa Park and the King Power looked to hold the key to Arsenal’s status as the real thing when it came to the title race. They have passed the test capably, even if the drama at Leicester yesterday afternoon was a little less fraught. Arsenal always looked like the team that was going to win this game, but of course until they score, domination counts for nothing. 

 

Mikel Arteta preferred Leandro Trossard at centre forward instead of Eddie Nketiah, which meant Gabriel Martinelli came back into the starting eleven as Eddie dropped to the bench. Nketiah will surely get more starts soon enough as the Europa League campaign resumes against Sporting Lisbon, but Trossard in the middle added greater variety to Arsenal’s attacking moves, with his superior ability to become involved in the build-up play. This isn’t to say Eddie is not good at finding space and making runs, but he’s a different kind of player, and at times easier to negate. Thomas Partey was deemed fit enough to take a place on the subs’ bench – a very welcome return.

 

Leicester did not show great ambition despite being at home. It does feel like they are heavily reliant on James Maddison to get results, and in this respect, Arsenal were fortunate that he was injured. The first half was a tale of Arsenal in near complete control, often playing some very enjoyable passing football, but denied a goal by VAR overruling a sweet Trossard long-range effort after Ben White had held one of the keeper’s hands at the preceding corner. There was a shout for a penalty on Saka, but these are rarely given, and it was evidently not clear enough for the referee to be over-ruled. I was informed that Saka trod on Souttar’s foot, which is what led to him falling on Saka, although it wasn’t clear on the TV highlights later. Apparently, Arsenal’s record with Craig Pawson reffing their matches this season is 100%, so we can’t accuse him of blatant bias against the team, and I was surprised he only added five minutes at the end of the second half. 

 

Leicester did have the ball in the net once, but it was an obvious offside. The Gunners started the second half in excellent fashion with an early goal as Trossard set up Martinelli to fire in low from the angle. Ndidi trod on his knee after he had got the shot away which felt avoidable and in the away section, for a time it was feared Martinelli’s season might be over as people assumed he had pulled a hamstring from his team-mate’s reaction. Leicester had one very decent chance to level when Harvey Barnes flashed a ball across the face of the goal but aside from that, it was a very assured defensive performance. Zinchenko was captain for the day to recognize the first anniversary of the conflict in Ukraine and certainly got around the field, even if he was marginally less tidy than usual. Jorginho was once again excellent, and Arteta now has two top drawer options for a key position on the pitch. Partey offers more drive, speed of movement and grace, and is arguable more of a game winner than Jorginho. However, the amount of control Arsenal enjoyed at Leicester was hugely influenced by Jorginho’s performance, and when he and Zinczenko clicked, things felt very comfortable. 

 

Eddie Nketiah and Partey were given a bit of game time as the clock ran down, and the visitors saw the game out comfortably enough despite only having a one goal lead. It was enough against a Foxes’ side that lacked much in the way of creativity. I wonder if Jamie Vardy’s sub appearance will be the final time he appears against Arsenal – his impact was minimal, his best days seem to be behind him now. Yes, he is mainly used from the bench, but that was the case last season and he scored 15 Premier League goals. So far this season, just one. 36 is getting on for a centre forward, especially one reliant on pace. Leicester are certainly not safe from the drop, something you could say for every team from Palace in 12th place downwards, six points above the 18th placed team, and have only won two league matches since the World Cup. 

 

Arsenal though, can look at doing what the Foxes managed in 2016 and beating the odds by landing the title. By a quirk of fate, four of their next five matches are at home, the away trip being Fulham. They really need to pick up maximum points from these games, given how relentless Manchester City have proven they can be at the business end of the season. But they have every reason to feel confident they can do it, especially once Jesus returns to the starting eleven. Until then, I imagine Trossard will keep his place, and the only real decision it feels like Arteta has to make is whether to go with Partey or Jorginho.

 

Yesterday was a case of an excellent result, without unnecessary stress. Business done, points in the bag, onto the next one. It would provide some relief to have a few more of these, but Arsenal don’t generally do things that way. Let’s see what happens on Wednesday with the rescheduled home match against a no doubt defensively focused Everton side. And hope that some work has been done on the defending at set pieces since the beginning of February!

 

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