Result: Leicester City – Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 28 February 2021
Venue: King Power Stadium
Arsenal: Leno, Cedric, David Luiz, Mari, Tierney, Xhaka, Elneny, Pepe, Smith Rowe, Willian, Lacazette
Subs: Ryan, Holding, Bellerin, Partey, Ceballos, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Aubameyang
A much-rotated Arsenal came from behind to seal an impressive 3-1 win against Leicester at the King Power.
Youri Tielemans gave the home side an early advantage when he drove past Leno on six minutes but the Gunners turned things around before the break thanks to a David Luiz header and Alex Lacazette’s penalty, awarded for a handball by Wilfred Ndidi.
After the break, Pepe rounded off a sweeping move to open a two-goal advantage that we closed out thanks to some dogged and disciplined work at the back.
Pre-game
Having only returned to England on Friday after the win over Benfica in Athens, it was little surprise that Mikel Arteta opted to rotate. That said, few were expecting as many as six changes.
At the back, Bellerin and Gabriel were replaced by Cedric and Mari. In midfield, Elneny, Willian and Pepe took over from Ceballos, Saka and Odegaard and up top Lacazette was selected ahead of Aubameyang. In addition to those switched out, the presence of Partey and Martinelli made for a very strong bench.
First Half
After a very tentative opening five minutes by both sides, Arsenal, possibly bored by the slow tempo, went in two-footed on the self destruct button.
Out on the left flank, Xhaka tried to find Willian with a ball that didn’t look particularly sensible given he was closely marked by Tielemans. The Belgian nicked the ball away from the Brazilian, used Iheanacho as a block to get round the Swiss and suddenly, with Tierney caught upfield out of position, had a free run on goal. For some reason, rather than step across to cover the gaping hole in our defence, Pablo Mari kept back peddling and back peddling and back peddling. Eventually, it was just too tempting for Tielemans to shoot. His effort was hard and true on the diagonal and left Leno with no chance. It was embarrassingly bad defending. (1-0)
The home side might have doubled their lead almost instantly when Leno playing out from the back had a pass pounced upon by Vardy. Thankfully, the striker’s touch deserted him and the ball bounced back to the German. A lucky escape.
We thought we had a route back into the game on 12 minutes when Pepe was felled in the area by a combination of Ndidi and Tielemans. At first glance, it looked like a penalty, which is what referee Paul Tierney gave, but VAR overruled after spotting initial contact was just outside the box. Pepe’s attempt from the free-kick was blocked.
What followed was a decent period of Arsenal dominance. Granted, Barnes and Iheanacho both tested Leno with efforts from range, but we actually controlled the game and started to work eye-catching openings. Pepe had a shot blocked from a Tierney cutback and Willian hit with a snatched effort from the edge of the box.
Pepe’s presence on the right was a constant threat to Leicester. He was twice taken out by youngster Thomas and again by Soyuncu. A third foul by Thomas, who looked very nervy, earned him a booking. On the right side of the box, the Ivorian stood over the ball with Willian discussing who was going to take charge. The Brazilian, spotting a David Luiz dart to the penalty spot, whipped in a ball and the centre-back headed past Schmeichel. A nicely worked goal and well deserved after solid 20 minutes of domination. (1-1)
In the aftermath of the goal, Smith Rowe went down holding his leg. The medical team didn’t waste any time indicating a need for a change and Odegaard was sent on for the youngster.
The Norwegian was quick to get involved. His pass to Pepe freed the Ivorian to cut in off the right. He let fly with a shot that Ndidi blocked with his arm and after a VAR review, a spot-kick was awarded. Lacazette stepped up and sent Schmeichel the wrong way. Quite the turnaround. (2-1)
Second Half
Having replaced Thomas with Albrighton, Rodgers, who’d evidently told his players to press higher, was forced into a second change inside five minutes of the restart. Barnes seemed to jolt his knee and he was stretchered off leading to the introduction of Cengiz Under.
The game had barely settled when we launched a stunning counter-attack to extend our lead. From a Tierney throw-in deep in our half, we worked the ball to Lacazette in the middle of the field. With a helping hand from Xhaka he held off Evans and suddenly the Swiss was free to spread play to Pepe on the right. His charge to the box ended with a pass to Odegaard who showed quick feed to thread in Willian and somehow the ball was squeezed back to Pepe who tapped home on the line. (3-1)
With a two-goal advantage and 30 minutes remaining it was all about game management. Could we keep the home side at arm’s length when they were naturally going to throw more at us? David Luiz bailed out Odegaard with a block after the Norwegian had played a suicidal pass. Elneny stopped Iheanacho and Mari went one-to-one with Vardy and somehow did enough to put off the striker without fouling him as they chased a loose ball.
Partey’s introduction for Elneny brought a new dimension to the midfield but we weren’t exactly adventurous. The aim was to keep the ball and slow things down. Aside from an Albrighton shot that Vardy accidentally blocked, we kept the Foxes away from dangerous areas.
Pepe continued to tease the tiring Foxes on the break. Cedric should have done better with a lay-off from the Ivorian and a few moments later he held onto the ball too long when a pass to Odegaard was on.
A rasping shot by Tierney, a curler by Aubameyang, on as a sub for Lacazette, and a couple of Partey fighters from distance were further examples of our dominance. After an injury peppered game, we had to see out seven minutes of stoppage time. Iheanacho had a fine chance to reduce the deficit right at the end but he blazed over after a corner dropped to him at the back post.
All in all, a very good performance from the Gunners who claimed an important three points to round off a good week. We go again in week against Burnley.
COYG!! Really, really enjoyed that! Built up a healthy hatred for Leicester over the last few seasons. I get the plucky underdog thing but that doesn’t detract from their intense cuntishness. Not having to see Vardy’s smirking face was a happy reprieve. Let’s hope they do what they do best and Titanic the remainder of the season. Really hope ESR isn’t out for long but I can’t help but feel he’s been sheltered from criticism in the last month when his performances haven’t been nearly as dynamic as his original six games or so. And that’s fine. He’s young and… Read more »
Well as long as we keep bouncing back to win, I don’t mind us going behind!
P.S. The Martinelli situation is getting slightly worrying now.
Yeah, 4 games in the last 7 in the prem that we concede in the first 10. Let’s hope it gets addressed very quickly. Way too many individual errors in this side. But you gotta love a comeback!
It’s great to see us coming from behind more often (cough, keep it clean), a sign of a hunger in the team, hate to say it but look how much United have done it this season, and look where they sit in the league
Pepe played like a 72 MN signing. The referee was very lenient that he allowed Thomas to commit so many fouls and stay on the pitch
ESR injury puts a cloud on an otherwise perfect day
Total disrespect from Rodgers putting Pepe up against a teenager. So glad Pepe murdered him. Apparently Pepe left the pitch with Thomas’ soul under his shirt.
ESR should have been rested. Not sure what the recent logic of playing him out wide to accommodate Odegaard was about. As for Willian, he did also provide an ‘assist’ for the Leicester goal so let’s not get carried away. Something is wrong between Arteta and most of our younger players. Anyway it’s 3 points and hopefully we can make some sort of concerted effort to climb up the table.
Who has an hatred for Leicester?. You need to get a life
Which bit do you like?
Perhaps the manager? Perchance some who adore Leicester are fans of Captain Northern Ireland
for the record, I am speculating about people liking Brendan Rodgers. Many wanted him. That’s the only thing anyone could find likeable about Leicester, if held hostage.
Arseblog comments really need an edit option.
Yeah. I’m not sure how many of us wanted him. But you’ve got to say, with 20 20 hindsight, he would have been a very good acquisition as apposed to Emery. Maybe the fans negative reaction prevented the club from moving forward with it. I feel like Wenger deserves a lot of credit for doing everything he could to get Vardy at the club too. Again, not many of us wanted him, but he would have given us a lot of goals in the last five seasons. Same with Suarez. Just couldn’t quite get either of them over the line.… Read more »
I think I’d rather have Mourinho than Rodgers and he’s a monumental cunt.
I mean, if you’re going to appoint a cunt as manager, you might as well go with the most massive one you can find. No second bests here thank you.
You know, Tuchel was available around the same time (replaced Emery at PSG, but talks with him around the time Wenger announced he was stepping down were possible, if I am not mistaken). Woudn’t have been half bad.
But we need to stick with Arteta. Experience apart, I think most people have a very short term memory, given how he was a joke when he was at Liverpool
When Arteta was failing and we’d just lost to Burnley, I mentioned that Tuchel was out of a job and we should put some feelers out. But everyone slated me, saying he was a crap manager with a bad record and a big ego.
Yeah, he looks really terrible.
I also hate Leicester, a horrible, cunty side. I’m surprised they can run around at all with all the pundits up their backsides, they’re right up there next to that lot down the road as far as I’m concerned.
See all those downvotes. That’s who. Now piss off with your get a life shithousery 💦
Lawrenson and Owen agreed Arsenal would lose 3-1 and literally the opposite happened. The BBC liveblog was harping on about how there was no doubt Leicester were a better team than Arsenal at 1-0 and then they got smashed. So funny. Egg.On.Face for the reactionary muppets. Really good performance overall. Willian and Pepe excellent and Odegaard really knows how to play a pass. So, so encouraging. Looks like the Benfica comeback showed us we can come back into games. Confidence is a precious thing, although let’s stop giving the opponents a goal in the first 10 mins eh?
What was odd was that even early in the game, we looked the better side. Other than our gifting them a goal, we were really dominant in every respect. Think of all the havoc we created from Pepe on the right and Tierney on the left. Very impressive performance until we had scored our third, then a little too passive–but understandable.
Are you saying that they chatted shit… and got banged?
😀 😀
Willian might be getting all the praise from pundits today, but I have to say that Pepe + Odegaard just works. Playing off of each other like they’ve been playing together for years. Was an absolute joy to watch.
Good call. I noted that today too. 👍
I think Martinelli would have gotten minutes had ESR not been injured.
Or Arteta hadn’t been managing this club…..
I agree about Smith Rowe. Immense promise, not yet nearly the consistency he will need to be a top player. I think that will develop, but it does him no good to pretend it is already there.
You can’t hate Leicester!! They’re great, Kasper Schmeichel aside. The crimson-faced twat.
Calling my girl Willian cuz she be blowing hot and cold
Hilarious
Who said romance was dead…
Someone calling themselves “Cheerio” apparently.
The timeless art of seduction…
One touch football with Willian, Elneny and Xhaka, Arteta is the managerial and coaching wizard 🙂
However, overall its been a very good performance and a massive result adding to the outcome from the midweek match.
Pepe was awesome.
I would have loved to have seen Martinelli for sometime as well. However, can’t complain much when we comeback to take 3 points.
Sincerely hope this was Willian’s redemption. A great team performance. Up the Gunners!
Cedric, Pepe, Willian and Xhaka with some of their best performances in months. Really solid.
Very enjoyable second half!
Take a bow Willian. Excellent performance.
…from a critic
Still…Martinelli deserve some minutes.
100% agree but downvoted because the phrase “take a bow” needs to do one
Can’t stand that phrase either. You get a thumbs up from me.
Wow, wasn’t expecting that with our starting line-up! Let’s hope we can keep that form going!
With these many changes, how did we manage to win? Couldn’t watch the match, but it looked like we played well even Willian. Hope we can build on this. I have been on some Arteta bashing but credit to him.
It was just one of those games where everything clicked and everyone had a good performance.
Willian after a very long time. May it continue
Lovely
good to see some quality from Luiz and Willian and good effort too from W!
Very well played, I wanted Arteta out in the first half then after an hour I was saying he is going to be one of the best managers of all time, oh how fickle I am. Cmon you gunners! Actually thought Willian had a good game as did Pepe and Cedric. Well played Arsenal. Oh and Tierney is an absolute beast.
Willian played really well today
Said no one in the past seven months….
The ‘fringe’ players stepped up when they were asked to. Big performance from the front three.
Xhaka oozes confidence at the moment, he was having fun out there in the 2nd half!
Only downside is ESR’s injury, fingers crossed he’s back in no time.
Oozes confidence he literally gifted them the 1st goal. Climb out of his arse for a minute will you
Don’t talk rubbish. Give credit where it’s due. He was brilliant today.
I have never seen him.play brilliant in 5 years he wasn’t bad today but his lack of pace is a big problem as shown by the 1st goal
Xhaka is a DM, and you dont need pace to be good at that. Xhaka’s unique talent in this team is ability to pick up ball in high pressure area and play make by pinging it wide to maintain possession or foreward to launch attacks, and he has done that plenty, cosistently, nobody else have that skillset in midfield in this squad, and thats why Arteta cant drop him right now, a no brainer. As a DM, Which thats what he is, what you need is good positioning and ability to read play and break up attacks without committing fouls….he… Read more »
Must be some other reason why hes not a good DM apart from his lack of pace then.
Wow, get some joy in your life…
‘Joy’
Great album by Isaac Hayes.
(The missus loves it 😉)
Blue Stax label classic which has and probably will keep many an R&B artist in samples for the rest of their careers.
He wasn’t brilliant, he can’t run how can he ever be brilliant. Did you see him trying to sprint back for their goal 😂😂
Apologies – my bad, I thought you were talking about Willian not Xhaka.
Xhaka was ok today. 👍
He wasn’t brilliant – he was ok.
It’s just that when, for the second time in a mere seven months, he does play ok, then people have to start going overboard, combining words like brilliant and Willian in the same sentence. 🙄
That did make me laugh jimbo but you seem really angry today with your comment above to Jonny to get a life and now this. What’s up ?
Fucking hell! What would you be like if we lost
pleased?
Losing the ball on the half way line with plenty of defenders behind you is not gifting anyone a goal.
If you criticised Mari there, I would agree.
Apart from that moment everyone played really well. Absolutely dominated a team who are in third place.
🤣
When we take initiative, we do play well which means we have the players to be better than where we are in the table. I hope Arteta is taking notice of this too and provides confidence to the players to play with authority. Pepe was brilliant in the attacking areas. Performances like these were probably why half of European elites were after him when we signed him. Xhaka should also be commended for his efforts. When he is good, he is really good as well and Willian was good too which nice. Hope he starts contributing positively more often.
Wow, that’s a result. Well done everyone. I thought we’d be doing well to get a point – so much for that. It’s been a while since we got back to back wins and, hopefully, we can build on these two wins and possibly move up the PL (although teams immediately above us have a game/games in hand) and get closer to that elusive EP qualifying place.
*EL (I remember EP records, ah the good old days).
Apt seeing as your posts are like a broken record.
We aren’t going to qualify for Europe through the league so give it a rest
Thank you for your comment – I think it says more about you than it does me.
I haven’t given up on an EL qualifying place but we clearly need to make progress quickly as games are running out. I prefer, as I suspect most Gooners do, to have that option in addition to what we may do in the EL this year. Seems reasonable to me but to you, who knows?
An EL qualification through the league is now the most realistic target, simply. Plus of course winning the EL, almost forgot 🙂
Irony is lost on you. You are definitely a broken record. Sorry we won today and you have to grasp at straws.
Hes moved on from saying wed get top 4 so thats progress at least.
He also managed a post without bringing up our expenditure.
The law of averages is on fire today. First Willian, now Biggles.
Never in 2020 would have thought this line-up would get this result today. I like many thought this would have been a dead-rubber loss. I cannot believe we beat these guys comfortably with our B team. The big talking point is that Willian finally had his first 8/10 performance of 2021. Good to also see Lacazette and Pepe on the scoresheet on their first starts back. Honestly the only negatives today are the conceded goal and the injury to ESR. I cannot complain with anything else. I hope that whatever they’ve been feeding the squad never runs out because this… Read more »
Delightful stuff today. Except for the Man City match, Arsenal has played very solid football for almost a month now. I certainly think Arteta has a lot of room to improve in terms of man management, but in terms of match-to-match strategy, he’s been superb recently.
He’s very much learning on the job. While MA certainly hasn’t got all aspects right so far as you say by the end of the season he will have had a crash course of being in in charge of a bigger PL club. The other aspects probably will improve with time.
What was that Jonny Evans dive all about?
Thank you Arsenal, I had a lovely afternoon in the end.
Willian MOTM 😂Feel free to go mad in the comments
Full credit to Arteta, took a gamble with that line-up and it fully paid off.
Great job from Mikel today – I was worried after conceding an early goal with this squad but the boys did very well, football was attractive to watch and key players were rested.
Well done!
A perfect afternoon for Arteta and Arsenal.
Arteta rested a number of key players and still got a very good performance and result. Pepe and even Willian were excellent and once we got our noses in front we never looked like failing to win. The only negative was the injury to ESR: let’s hope it’s not too serious.
We’re above Spuds: feels good, doesn’t it?
I love it when you’re positive. Even the sun is shining outside 😊
Definitely. It feels great.
Don’t jinx it…
We were above them for about 3 minutes. :-/
(To be expected: games in hand. Burnley)
Still, just three months to go and it will be a mere 60 gloryless years since they won the league title.
Forever in our shadow, the muggy cunts.
I have never seen Leicester made that impotent in a long while. Totally outclassed by an Arsenal side that truly was expected to struggle.
Pepe, Willian and Laca stood out for me.
Willian, the king of assists..
I’m not a great supporter of Willian but he did get a vital assist so perhaps he’s more of a spare to the heir to the king?
Fantastic away win! Those Leicester cunts are something else, constantly roughing up our boys & the ref turned a blind eye.
The fact that it was to all intents and purposes a ‘nothing’ game actually, and paradoxically, makes the win even sweeter.
Make no mistake, Leicester will have had this down as a banker home win – and then we bowl into town and piss all over their Ricicles by beating them with an XI that includes Luiz, Xhaka and Willian.
Fucking hilarious.
Big win and a job saving week for Arteta.
I wrote this prediction before the game.
Willian to play a blinder and Luiz to smash a free kick in from 25 yards. 🥶
Smashing a header in is nearly the same and Willian was excellent
Arseblog’s own bard. I’m into it.
Everyone was talking about that tough run of games after Christmas. Certainly in my family. United, wolves, villa, Leeds, benfica, city, benfica, Leicester. Four wins two draws and two losses. I’m pretty positive about that!! just a shame we played like that against villa
3 lost 2 wins and a draw from United wolves villa Leeds City and Leicester.
Not great
. Good win today get a win next week v Burnley and we’ll see what we can do with the next 5 games which are very tough.
4 wins?
It’s a fucking unicorn! Big performance away from home against top 6 side, multiple goals and Willian AND Pépé both played well! Very enjoyable!
My favourite moment was definitely Lacazette’s primal scream after the goal.
I was NOT confident when I saw the line-up, which just proves I know nothing and Arteta knows lots.
Willian. He did well these past two games.
More importantly though, at no point at all did Arsenal seem out of control after the first 15 minutes or so.
Hope it’s not bad for ESR
Well, it had to happen eventually. Even Willian cannot escape the law of averages. It’s taken him seven months, but he finally managed to have his second reasonable game of the season. Elsewhere, Pepe continues to impress, Luiz took his goal well, Odegaard is gradually finding his feet and, best of all, we didn’t miss Saka – which is encouraging, given that we were in grave danger of becoming a one man team. For once, Arteta got it right and rested him, although his continued reluctance to play Martinelli is now become farcical. A sloppy goal to give away, but… Read more »
Anyone else loving the wet spot on that girl’s bikini? Maybe just me or my ads lol. Great fucking result, slammed leicester. Good on Pepe and Laca, dropped for weeks, came back and showed their worth
What a result. Played so well. Willian was very good, Pepe too. Defended really well, aside from their goal. I loved Mari’s shoulder barge on Vardy when it looked like he was in. Great stuff
Shame we didn’t see Martinelli, something’s going on there. You could also tell Smith-Rowe knew he’d done something bad. Fingers crossed that’s not the case. Same for Harvey Barnes too, who I really rate.
Great performance all in all. Get in there
Fair play boys – not a willian fan but he was OK today – hearing Keown having to turn in his boots and savage having to eat humble pie – good result and a good performance
God, I hate Savage.
As cunts go, he really is a total, undisputed, 100% dyed in the wool CUNT.
Knowing he will be feeling as sick as anyone who hates getting beaten by Arsenal feels – and some, because he’s Robbie Savage – is making my afternoon beers taste even better.
We dominated the third placed team on their ground today, with our b-side no less. Can’t be negative now?
Heads didn’t drop. Played well. Aside from the 2 assists, Willian played well.
Couldn’t VAR make that penalty decision themselves?
Today was a hugely positive win for us..
Willian has been criticized(and deservedly so) but he was fantastic today(against good opposition), the way he dribbled the ball upfield for our second goal was a reminder of why we signed him.
Xhaka was brilliant. Used his body well to win countless fouls. Couple of great sliding tackles and interceptions.
Pepe involved heavily as well, all that’s needed is consistency.
This game showed us there’s more to our game than just Auba and Saka, was good to see.
I’m as shocked as anyone, but Willian MotM
Actually it was Pepe. Quite right, too.
Yet another reminder that as fans, there are times we need to let the technical team get on with it. They see the players everyday in training. For sure criticise where they get it wrong but they certainly know far more than the rest of us here. Trust the process!!!
10th in the league trust the process
🤣
We could go 38-0-0 with a +267 goal difference, win the quadruple, and have Lewandoski, Ronaldo, and Messi pay us 200K per week each for the prviilege of playing here, and you’d still bitch and moan.
Jesus! Give it a rest!
Spoken like a true cult member. We’re 10th.
Question: Why doesn’t advantage apply with regards to two fouls committed before the whistle is blown?
Surely if there was contact on Pepe from Tielemans (and I’m not sure there was) advantage would apply to the first contact and we should get a penalty?
Because, as a referee, if you’re trying to play an advantage and the advantage doesn’t materialize you go back to the very first foul. In this case, Ndidi’s clip on Pepe outside the box came before any contact with Tielemans (and as you noted, it’s not even certain there was any contact with Tielemans). Because the first foul was outside the box, the free kick is outside the box.
A win, 3 points, and we swept Leicester aside. What’s not to like? I get it why some fans get all heated up with the team selection. But isn’t it a damned if you do, dammed if you don’t situation? With the squad that we have and have to rotate, it’s not like we have a buffet of choices to call on. Fans would be having a fit again on the sixty plus minute had Willian comes on as substitute again. It worked today. Arsenal had the measure of Leicester. COYG!
Credit where it’s due, William had a very good game today, but the fact we still keep playing him instead of Martinelli is getting worrisome.
Hi
very happy with the win and finally beating Leicester when it matters. however, have the feeling we could have gone for the throat and didn’t after 3-1. not sure this was just to save energies for upcoming games or, as I fear, a long term tendency to relax when the result seems safe.
Statement victory.
Arsenal went Fox hunting today & grabbed 3
This was a very good performance. Was ready to throw in the towel with the team selection then after 6 minutes the goal but in truth even before the collective cock up, we were putting together some good stuff. This looked like a throwaway match with selection. In hindsight, reserve players elevated themselves and fresh legs was a good call by gaffer. And we kept going with it staying positive despite the early concession. In the end just rewards with second penalty for our pressure and even slightly unlucky we were not rewarded for the first penalty withdrawn But some… Read more »
I did not even mention Willian who had a decent game today. Our quick short interchanges though in tight confines in particular the key to a more productive end. And Lacazette was a factor IMO always dropping to provide the link but also keeping tight with the ball and protecting it. Very good interchanges between him and Pepe or Willian on other flank when both came in tighter but also players like Xhaka shook off early poor pass and put in good shift splaying the ball quickly in angles to interplay others in at speed. Where we tended to have… Read more »
Credit where its due. Take away the first goal disaster, defence was rock solid. Vardy barely touched the ball, through balls there was always someone there to intercept or get to it before Vardy could. Barely any aerial threats, lads marked out of it most of the time. Very pleasing indeed.
The perfect game plan to nullify that sides threats.