Gabriel Martinelli scored the only goal of the game to help Arsenal produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. The Gunners’ victory increased the pressure on Manchester City ahead of their game against Bournemouth on Saturday evening, which they won 4-1, despite the fact that the champions had played one more game than Mikel Arteta’s side. Arsenal dominated the game at the King Power Stadium, but Leandro Trossard’s beautiful curling shot was disallowed after a VAR review for a foul on Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward by Ben White. Yet Martinelli helped to soften the shock only moments into the second half when he slid the ball past Ward after latching onto Trossard’s pass, and Arteta’s team comfortably won the game for the first time in over a month.
Arsenal won their first match in five with a thrilling late flurry at Aston Villa last weekend, and another win at Leicester will help them regain the momentum they lost over the last month. For much of the first 45 minutes, Arsenal held Leicester back inside their own half, but lacked a cutting edge, with the Foxes successfully frustrating their visitors. Arsenal’s annoyance was compounded when VAR Michael Salisbury urged Craig Pawson to go to the pitchside monitor to investigate a potential foul on Ward by White, resulting in the referee ruling out Trossard’s score.
The judgment was arguably a little soft, and it allowed a let-off for Ward, whose poor punch sent the ball to Granit Xhaka, who set up Trossard’s shot. Bukayo Saka was denied a penalty after colliding with Harry Souttar in the first half, but Martinelli calmed Arsenal’s fears by cleverly sliding them ahead. The onus was then on Leicester to show more of an attacking threat than they did in the first half when they failed to record a single shot, but Brendan Rodgers’ side was severely missing James Maddison, who was unable to travel due to sickness. Kieran Dewsbury-Hall blasted a long-range shot just past Aaron Ramsdale’s goal, but Leicester posed few concerns.
“When you don’t, you have to be excellent on defense, and we only gave up one shot. We were terrific defensively. This is a very difficult area to visit. It’s a great victory,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “I haven’t watched the replay. What can we do now that the choice has been made? It’s too bad because he threw it in the top bin. It’s a fantastic finish. We were able to recuperate and not become too angry by the choice.”
“Today’s performance did not impress me. It was a spirit-filled performance, but I expected more from us. To survive in the Premier League, especially against the big teams, you must be aggressive,” Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said. “We didn’t play particularly well in the first half. It was far too easy for them in terms of intensity, pressure, and ball control. We were more proactive in the second half but lacked quality with the ball at times. Overall, we didn’t give up as many chances, but I expect us to be much better with the ball in the future. We could play rapidly at times, but we lost the ball too easily, both under pressure and when not.”
Nobody has scored more goals or contributed more assists for Leicester this season than Maddison, so when the squads were named and he was not to be found, alarm bells went out. Rodgers said that the midfielder, who had been out with a knee injury, was absent due to illness, which had an impact on Leicester’s game plan. The hosts appeared prepared to sit back and frustrate Arsenal, with Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho providing counter-attacking options, but it was a tactic that failed to put Arteta’s side to the test.
Leicester would have been happy with a draw, but once Martinelli scored, they were powerless to change their strategy. Even the appearance of Youri Tielemans and Jamie Vardy from the bench failed to rouse the Foxes, as they finished the game with only one shot – the fewest of any club in a single Premier League game this season – and an expected goals total of just 0.02.
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