Recap
Leicester City fell to Arsenal by a score of 2-0 at the King Power in Saturday’s early match. After an even first half, substitute Mikel Merino bagged a late brace to give the title-chasing visitors all three points.
That was probably our best defensive performance, at least for the first 80 minutes. For once, this wasn’t a matter of constant last-ditch blocks and great saves. City held Arsenal largely at bay and looked comfortable defensively. No small part of that was down to the Gunners missing some key parts, but as a unit, Leicester’s back line and central midfield looked solid.
The attack, on the other hand? Other than some neat work by El Khannouss, there was no sustained threat at all. That’s to be expected when the team sitting 18th on the table is facing the 2nd-place side, but there wasn’t a lot to say about how City looked going forward.
0.2 xG is not a lot of xG.
The one bit of encouragement, for me at least, is that the return of Wilfred Ndidi has greatly improved the solidity of the defence. Being able to point to a reason for something gives me a lot more confidence that it’s real and sustainable. I’d rather have the points than “real and sustainable improvement,” but you take what you can get.
3 Takeways
- This “getting up before sunrise to see us lose” is getting old. Can we maybe not play any more of these 12:30 matches?
- Woyo Coulibaly’s introduction coincided with Raheem Sterling’s disappearance from the match. Interesting.
- It probably doesn’t mean much, but it’s interesting to see Bobby De Cordova-Reid on the right and Jordan Ayew on the left. Steve Cooper deployed them on opposite wings but Ruud van Nistelrooy seems to prefer this alignment. I honestly can’t tell you if it’s more or less effective.
The defeat leaves the Foxes on 17 points from 25 matches, two points behind Wolves. Wanderers also have a game in hand, so things could be much worse by tomorrow evening. Probably not, though, as the game in hand is at Anfield. We host Brentford next Friday and then travel to London to square off against West Ham the following Thursday.
Leicester City: Mads Hermansen, James Justin (Woyo Coulibaly 42’), Wout Faes, Caleb Okoli, Victor Kristiansen, Wilfred Ndidi (Facundo Buonanotte 85’), Boubakary Soumare, Bobby De Cordova-Reid (Patson Daka 85’), Bilal El Khannouss, Jordan Ayew (Stephy Mavididi 75’), Jamie Vardy (C)
Arsenal: David Raya, Jurren Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Ethan Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard
1’- The atmosphere at the King Power feels looser today? Maybe it’s because there’s no expectation of a result?
5’- The Foxes are moving the ball very quickly when they have it. There’s a lot of nice one-touch passing so far.
10’- Close! A cross into the Arsenal box is only cleared as far as Ndidi on the edge of the area. He lines up the volley and you probably expect him to sky it over, but he hits it well and it’s on-target, but too close to Raya to cause any serious problems.
20’- Every time Arsenal attack down the Leicester right, they’re getting behind. That’s a concern as this is Raheem Sterling who’s finding so much joy. If the Gunners had any pace at all down this flank it’d be a big, big problem.
24’- Justin goes down after making a pass and takes his shoe off. He’s back up after a few minutes of treatment, but this doesn’t look good.
33’- Sterling takes a pop from distance after Soumare turns it over, but it’s deflected behind for a corner.
43’- Justin’s down again following a challenge from Trossard and that’s it for the fullback. Woyo Coulibaly comes on just before the half.
45+5’- Kristiansen swings the ball in from the flank and Ndidi rises highest. He’s a long way from the goal but he gets a lot of power on it. Placement? That’s another story. That’s it for the half.
46’- No changes for either side at the half. Here we go.
52’- Ayew holds Timber’s shirt for about 20 yards before the referee blows the whistle. It’s a yellow. As it should be.
60’- Close! Ndidi’s pass doesn’t have enough on it and Arsenal break. Nwaneri takes it to the edge of the area and tries to curl it into the corner. It’s over the bar, but he didn’t miss by much.
67’- Close! Some chaotic play on the edge of the Arsenal area sees the ball fall to De Cordova-Reid on the edge of the box. With no pressure on his, you’d hope he’d do better than hitting it directly at the keeper. Your hopes would have been in vain.
73’- Close! Ayew picks up a loose ball in midfield with acres of space in front of him. He uses all of it and slides a pace across the face of the goal. It looks like De Cordova-Reid will have a tap-in at the far post, but Lewis-Skelly just gets a toe to it to put it behind for a corner.
75’- Ayew comes off in favour of former Arsenal winger Stephy Mavididi.
76’- Close! Rice slides a ball to Nwaneri, who is forced outside but he gets his shot off and it’s turned on to the post by Hermansen. Best chance of the match so far.
81’- GOAL! Too easy for the Gunners. Substitute Mikel Merino heads home Nwaneri’s cross to give the visitors a one-goal edge.
He took it well, but he wasn’t exactly under pressure, was he?
85’- Patson Daka and Facundo Buonanotte come on for De Cordova-Reid and Ndidi.
87’- GOAL! The Foxes throw bodies forward and get caught out when the Gunners win the ball back. Trossard crosses from the left and it’s Merino, unmarked at the far post, who turns it home.
90+5’- That the final whistle. The Foxes fail to score, fail to keep a clean sheet, and fail to take a point. Grim.
