Result: Arsenal 4 – 2 Leicester City
Competition: Premier League
Date: 28 September 2024
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Partey, Rice, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli, Trossard
Subs: Neto, Nichols, Kiwior, Kacurri, Lewis-Skelly, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Sterling, Jesus
Arsenal took their fans through a roller-coaster of emotions at Emirates Stadium with a 4-2 win. The home side coasted through the first half with two goals from Martinelli and Trossard.
But they were taken by surprise by Leicester City as they equalised early in the second half with a deflected set piece and excellent volley. Arsenal laboured to find a goal and had great attempts thwarted by a goalkeeper in form only to score twice in injury time with goals by Trossard and Havertz to take home the full three points.
Pre-Match
After navigating an intense week of top level opposition, a return to Premier League action saw Arsenal play against proposition who were more likely to sit and bunker in.
To tackle Leicester City, Calafiori and Timber took up the inverting full back positions. Havertz and Trossard took turns to occupy the centre forward and no.10 role, flanked by Martinelli and Saka. Rice, Partey, Saliba and Gabriel formed the spine of the team while Raya returned from a slight muscle injury.
First Half
The home side were dominant with the ball from the start and didn’t allow Leicester a sniff at possession. The players pushed their opponents high up with full backs Calafiori and Timber taking central positions alongside Partey just outside the box.
The passing was intricate and patient to break down the packed Leicester formation. Rice tried swinging in some crosses from the left, alternating towards the far post and Havertz in the middle but to no avail.
Martinelli had the best chance within the first 15 minutes, put clear through by Saka after a right side overload. His first touch was heavy and he could only shank it high from a narrow angle.
It took an inventive passing sequence to free Timber down the right to pull a low cross into a box of hungry Arsenal attackers to break the deadlock. The ball found Martinelli who twisted and connected with the ball to place it past Hermansen who was rooted to his spot. 1-0 Martinelli
The Gunners continued the pressure. Not satisfied with just bossing possession, the players’ positions resembled a Rubik’s Cube puzzle that Leicester could not solve.
Rice was popping up at centre back and the left side of midfield. Both full backs were seen at times playing a double pivot in midfield while Partey shifted to right back. We were just changing passes and positions fluidly and the Foxes had no way to catch our shadows.
All that pressure ensured that the Gunners went into half time with a second goal. Martinelli, busy all afternoon, pulled a pass back into the direction of Trossard who side-footed clinically within the second minute of injury time. 2-0 Trossard
Second Half
Leicester came out to attack and an innocious challenge far away from the box by Saliba was unfairly given a yellow card. The resultant free kick was nodded by James Justin but nicked Havertz to produce an unfortunate deflection to spin past Raya to silence a shocked Emirates Stadium. 2-1 Leicester
Arsenal had chances to double the lead. Gabriel’s point blank header from a corner was well saved and Timber skied the rebound. Trossard’s attempt from the centre of the box hit the post.
Slowly, Leicester started coming back into life with Mavididi and Buonanotte lively in the counter. But it was James Justin again who made an impact for the visitors with a sumptuous volleyed effort from outside the box that was reminiscent of Pavard’s at World Cup 2018. 2-2 Leicester
The Gunner hit back but the Leicester keeper was in good form palming away efforts from Havertz, Trossard and Calafiori. Even Nwaneri, lively upon coming on the 85th minute, had his swerving long ranger saved.
Being frustrated after conceding late against Manchester City, it was relief and joy this time for Arsenal as they made it 3-2 late into injury time. It was another scrappy corner and Trossard pounced on a loose ball that squirmed through a sea of legs to get Arsenal over the finish line. 3-2 Arsenal
Kai Havertz put some gloss on the scoreline with the last kick of the game. Jesus dribbled through the defence and striked on goal. The ball was spilled by the keeper and deflected into the path of the German for an easy finish. 4-2 Arsenal
A well deserved win (Arsenal’s 4.1 XG drawfed Leicester’s 0.2) which was more tense than it should have been due to some bad luck and excellent goalkeeping from the opponents.
Here’s to Archer
Saka looks dead on his feet, and seems playing for corners. Nwaneri reminded of what Saka looked like when Saka is 100% fit.
Please rest Saka more, we need him fully fit.
I thought Saka was excellent today.
I personally feel Saka is capable to much much more than excellent.
He should be spoken of in the same lines of Messi.
Saka is excellent but come on. Messi is basically unparalleled in the history of the game.
Move him inside and let him play in the same zones as Palmer and Foden. Then you’ll see the goals flow.
Especially playing without Odegaard and White, his usual partners on the right
I thought he over played it. Trying to take on too many
awfully overplayed the way he released Timber down the right with a no look through ball for our first goal
WTF is it with people and Saka. Seriously. Why can’t more people just appreciate him?
It’s crazy. I remember watching the fear inducing Perry Groves. Be so thankful we have one of the best I’ve ever seen Arsenal produce week in week out.
Shhh it’s a bit of a secret but Saka it bloody brilliant.
Perry Groves could burn burn a full back with his pace, and we have have him to thank for his assist for the winning goal in the 87 cup final. Our first trophy in 8 years. Good player on his day.
He’s not flashy enough for them, they don’t understand what he does.
Doesn’t end up on the 40 second social highlights? Is he too nice? Too short? Needs a new hairstyle? Maybe an elaborate dance routine next time he scores? Is that what it’s going to take?
Drak arts gave us 7 extra minutes and we really really make us of it! Great 3 points
Drakaris?🐲
Eagerly awaiting the Drakaris of Citeh’s place in the PL.
they deserve a nice Red Wedding when we next play there
what the heck does it have to do with the original comment? post your own and stop clinging on the top comment to get more reactions
Saka was good considering his batterymate Ode is missing. While Havertz’s excellent spatial awareness enables Kai to occupy similar positions, what Kai can do from those spots pale in comparison with Martin’s. Similar dynamics with White/Timber.
Ok Doc we will think about it…:-)
Shots:
7 — Bukayo Saka
5 — Leicester
Successful take-ons:
8 — Bukayo Saka
5 — Leicester
Touches in box:
14 — Bukayo Saka
11 — Leicester
Chances created:
8 — Bukayo Saka
5 — Leicester
—
Stats from the game. He was alright.
Saka is the 1st player to create 8+ chances and complete 8+ successful take-ons in a single Premier League game this decade. #Starboy
You can’t argue with those stats. Literal proof he’s overplayed it, and oversuceeded.
Posted this on the other thread before seeing this utter tripe.
Bukayo Saka. His stat line is beyond ridiculous. 8 successful dribbles out of 12 attempted. 6 accurate crosses out of 11 attempted. 8 key passes. 4 big chances created. From all that, just 1 assist today. He has now assisted a goal in EVERY game he’s played this season in the PL. He now leads the top 5 leagues in big chances created (ahead of Yamal). CAN WE PUT SOME RESPECT ON HIS NAME PLEASE
The fuckers have taken away Trossards goal and put it down as an own goal. I don’t see how, as the ball was on target. Spiteful, as it takes away Bukayo’s assist and so his record, they know what they’re doing. Cunts.
“Bukayo Saka is the first player to create 8+ chances & complete 8+ take-ons in a SINGLE Premier League match this decade” – afcstuff on the Leicester game.
Clearly unfit and dead on his feet.
The Clutchsenal.
Man those haters must have their collective dicks royally stuck in their throats.
Archer gone Home. Hoorah!
Blogs, I was so sorry to hear of Archer passing over rainbow bridge! We often ask our own GSD, Joy, when she’s elbow licking, if she’s competing with Archer! I’m sure he had a paw in the win, as did our past 2 GSD’s Jake and Jennie, both Gooners obviously! Love & hugs to you my friend 🤗♥️
He was a very good dog. RIP Archer.
Ethan Nwaneri! Today was the first time I got the hype!
I don’t want to be over the top, but damn, the way he moves with the ball reminds me of a certain Argentine. Hale End has done it again 😀
Not argentinian, But a certain spanish maestro who is modern day legend for shitty
Did you skip the Bolton game?! But yeah, he’s incredibly exciting.
I watched that. But I was not as excited for what we seem to have on our hands until today. I cheered the sliding tackle he made to stop a Leicester attack at 3 – 2 than any wizardry he performed with the ball today!
I think fans should get off Mikel’s back (based on reactions I am already seeing on SM) and let him integrate the boy as slowly as he wants to. Don’t put undue pressure on him, I say.
everyone’s excited about the shiny new toy from our academy, it’s normal and hard to resist fantasising about what he might yet become… but yeah, he’s already exceeding expectations for a 17 years old, let’s try to put the breaks on just a bit and enjoy the process
Trying to guess what Argie… maybe Nwaneradona? Lionel Nwanessi? Nwatistuta? Di Manweri? Nwaguero?
Nwaneri was an upgrade on Partey when he came on. Looking forward to him getting some minutes over the next few weeks
I think it is a little bit unfair to compare Party and Nwaneri today. The youngster came on as an attacking threat and as a little risk taking by Arteta with the aim to carve out the 3 points. However Partey’s task was to give stability to the team throughout the game which I think he did quite well.
Agree. Partey was oustanding against the Oil Cheats and again today. I don’t understand the agenda some folk have against him.
Please don’t do this again to me again this season, Arsenal.
Please.
Their goalie clearly sold his soul to the devil for that performance!
Thankfully we have Jesus on our side.
Bravo.
Guy who hasn’t scored in 4 years suddenly scoring two? Goalkeeper having a an absolute blinder?
This had all the ingredients of a vintage banter era freak result. Phew.
Think we need these rare occurrences… I am certain Mikel is going to use it as a teaching point: the Premier League is the hardest league in the world because ANY team can have a worldie of a day against ya. The boys will do well to remember that moving forward.
If we had drawn 2 all, I’d still have come to applaud the effort. Done by 2 goals we couldn’t have done much about. I’m so glad I didn’t have to come here to look for positives
“If we had drawn 2 all, I’d still have come to applaud the effort.”
Nope, let go the chance to catch Man City on points all the time, I am not for it. There was neglect at 2-0 when we should have gone for a heavy to be top of the league.
Que?
What do you mean “we should have gone for a heavy win”? Do you they didn’t understand that it would have been better to score goals than concede goals? They were trying to win. They did win.
I know Arseblog is a fairly classy place, but after this week of media reactions to the City game, I just want to say, only for this time, SODTAOE.
?
suck on deez tasty and old eggs, i presume
S= Suck
The acronym stands for an expression quite charged with machismo, that defiantly dismisses our opponents by suggesting they should perform fellatio on our male genitalia.
Sliding or dragging, toboggans are often excellent.
A special thought for Archer and for you blogs today, thanks for being there in such a sad day
Cheers ❤️🤍
Aside from relatively good result, i think it was dangerous that we completely shut off after HT. We can rest many important players instead of force them to play full 90 min +
Not sure I agree with that. They scored on a lucky deflection and a goal of the season contender, and did nothing else. I’m not big on XG, but I just read that Arsenal’s XG in this game was the fourth highest (non-penalty) XG for a team in a PL game since the stat has been tracked.
Yeah i think thats true. Their goal is class. I just hope we can rest our players before PSG
No, he’s right. The press was terrible leading up to their goals. We didn’t deserve the maximum punishment for it from those chances, but it’s true. The team came out flat after HT.
Firstly Arseblog my condolences to Archie.
If I may be critical, I had no access to game today and followed it all on live blog. You were not clear on which team scored the last goal. I felt sick praying the goal was offside because I thought Leicester had scored it 🤦♂️
When he writes GOAL in all caps, it’s always an Arsenal goal.
Noted.
It went as follows;
Throw Leicester
Goal
No
Then I started to cry a bit
I’m joking about the criticism btw.
Generally when blogs says “gooooaaalll” it means arse have scored. Opposition scoring is normally signalled by “goal Leicester/villa/etc” with no fanfare
Remarkable in the way this game is. Vastly superior team is being held by a hot keeper and luck. Vastly inferior team gets a lucky deflection and then a player hits the strike of his life. Tied.
hard work to overwhelm in the remaining minutes and it finally happens.
love this game.
nwaneri is awesome. Start him.
reminded me of cuco martina against us a few years ago… you’ll never hear that name ever again, as you never heard it never before that match… an absolute blinder out of nowhere, and we lost that match… you’ll have to have more than just luck to beat this arsenal side!
Yeah, I remember that game many seasons ago. Martino went full Roberto Carlos with the outside of his right boot
The Emirates when Arsenal are chasing a winner… Goosebumps.
Hard to have goosebumps when you’re gnawing all your nails off
Well. Bit of a rollercoaster, that.
Sorry to hear about Archer, Blogs. Sad day when mans best friend crosses the rainbow bridge. Well done to The Arsenal though. Would like to have seen Ethan come on earlier, he looked busy and sharp. Great to see Martinelli back among the goals, he needed that. We dominated and they got two freak goals. It would have been very disappointing if we did not win.
This victory is on the Fans. After those great saves and lucky ones we were out of ideas and a bit short of confidence. Nwaneri changed the momentum and the fans pushed that ball over the line. Twice. 😁
RIP Archer
Sorry for your loss Blogs, thanks for doing what you do.
That website you are using for the goal clips, caulse.com is a total pile of cack.
After *finally* loading, the progress bar at the bottom of the screen moves but the video doesn’t display. And no amount of pissing about with it helps.
It worked for me!
I don’t know what caulse.com is. When I click on the link it takes me to a reddit site, it loads almost instantly and I can watch it just fine.
Yeah, that “no internet connection” site he sometimes use for the blog never works for me either. Definitely not my fault.
Can’t complain about the win but we nearly threw it away due to lack of concentration. 4 points dropped from winning positions and we nearly made it 6 points dropped from winning positions. A bit worrying.
The 4 points we ”dropped” weren’t exactly our fault. It’s much harder to not to drop things when a bunch of corrupt attention seeking dicks are doing everything they can think of to slap them out of your hands.
Can we maybe learn to hold a lead when we go down? Or maybe some discipline especially when we know the league is corrupt and don’t like us?
I’m not saying the officiating is not atrocious. But still doesn’t change the fact we dropped 4 points from winning positions.
It actually would have changed that fact.
Do you want to replace Arteta with jose mourinho?
Whew… that was tense.
The Leicester GK had a blinder today. Credit where its due. But the boys kept on going.
Saka looks tired and heavy footed. He needs rest.
Onwards we Go.
The very blueprint of the arsenal routine win haha. please lads think of our health
YES!!! YES!!! 3 big points!!! Phew, thanks goodness, I thought we were going to drop 2 points today. What a come back to win the game. This is what champions are made of. C’mon Arsenal, let’s get a long run of Ws!!!
That was scrappy but I am so relieved for that Trossard’s injury time.
3 points is 3 points
One of the first things I saw of yours was the video where Archer was “whispering” for bacon. That video made me look into your blog. Thanks Archer for introducing me to this awesome community. RIP Archer.
RIP Archer. thanks for nudging us over the line today.
Christ that probably didn’t need to be as stressful as it turned out to be 😂. Their keeper made some insane saves. It was a stark contrast to last week, being the ones attacking the block. I think we showed incredible patience at times but having seen what can come from taking a shot at goal early, I’d like to see us take more early shots next time we face this sort of defence (so next week lol). Nwaneri… my word. He looks ready to contribute. He’s so positive and silky on the ball. Really impressed with him. Reminded me… Read more »
13 saves by the Foxes keeper, none of them you could serousky describe as “routine,” deflected header to wrong-foot Raya, and a guided missile for Leicester’s second. The scoreline flattered the Foxes.
Scrappy game but we got over the line.
Really happy that Martinelli scored and assisted.
Let’s keep going. One game at a time.
COYG!
I’m a cat fan but you got to respect Archer. RIP to our K9 king
On a serious not I got some flies and dust in my eyes when I read the last line from the live report
Everything to like about the Premier league, and everything to like about this Arsenal team were on display today.
Nobody gave Leicester a chance after a comfortable first half for the gunners; a fortuitous goal and a worldie changed all that.
Relieved to get the 3 points at the end after Newcastle had done us a favour earlier.
we’ve deserved to win every match so far, but just as we could’ve won the game against city, we could’ve drawn this one, and we’d still have the same amount of points. so it’s all good, i guess (yes, im still mad about that game and trying to find ways to cope with it)
So they took away goal from Trossard and now it’s own goal from defender , but Justin deflection off Haverz is still Justin’s goal .
It was more about denying Saka an assist as he would have set a new PL record for consecutive assists to start the season. Bunch of tin pot wankers.
Has the talk about how Partey has lost his legs lost its legs?
i think he’s been poor and it shows even more because of the contrast with declan’s performances in that position last season, who is btw being poor as a left 8. so i can’t wait for merino to be back so we can let declan play in his best position again (and hopefully forget about partey forever)
Not in the least, but I feel better about him than I did at the start of the season because his passing and decision making are still good. His legs are not coming back though.
Bloody loved Nwaneris “I’m going to win this for us” attitude ! Also loved watching a really good football game between the two sides ! Hope Leicester do ok this season they played well ! Never felt like we weren’t winning it though !
Commiserations, I suppose watching the game for us might have helped a bit.
Wasn’t just bad luck! Over playing around their box, not taking opportunities to pass or cross.
Should have been out of sight at HT.
Their first should never have been a fk, Vardy ran across front of Saliba . From their goal our mf seemed to lose structure and we were sloppy.
Great to see the reaction after the equaliser and Nwaneri must be close to starting.
Despite his goal involvements in the 1st Marti still infuriated me with bad choices, too many touches, head down blinkered to opportunity.
God bless you Archer, and you and the family Blogs x. Well done for cracking on today for your heed of followers and fellow gooners. Bless you. Well done gooners, winning in injury time is title winning stuff, I fucking love this club xxx
Three talking points for me. Firstly,it was great seeing Martinelli get a goal. That will do his confidence some good. Secondly,Ethan Nwaneri is a baller. He played like he belongs at this stage. He looked good with the ball but I was more impressed with his eagerness to work off the ball-it shows he already understands the tactics of this team.
Finally, it showed great resilience and mentality to score in extra time and get the win. In the past,we’ve dropped points in games like this.
Sincere condolences you and your family on the loss of Archer! But, two goals in stoppage is a great way to say Thank you!
I thought Arsenal played well into some sought of fluid front & midfield. It wasn’t perfect but I like it. Wide forwards interchanging. In the mid, both fullbacks inverting at the same time.
Yes! Wasn’t that so cool? I’m in love with Calafiori and Timber. What a duo.
A good demonstration of patience. The rustiness in finishing will wear off. Well done to the team.
There is absolutely no reason to be playing Partey against a low block at home. In a game like this, he sees too much of the ball in advanced positions. Playmaking in the final third is just not his strength. Nwaneri to start midweek please!
RIP Archer. Sending good wishes
Truly saddened for the loss of Archer. Feels like one of our family has gone. Thanks for sharing him with us the whole way blogs.
–Martinelli got the goal and got the confidence
–Best creative performance of the season, without Odegaard
–Saka stood on his head, created all the chances, nobody noticed. He’ll do it again next week.
–BW in street clothes, Timber says: we good
–Calafiori… the CB who plays like a winger and I love every minute of it
–Rare sloppy period at second half start punished maximally by goals from half chances
–Ethan came on and said, gimme the ball. At 17.
–Stoppage time goals felt inevitable
Feeling so alive, feeling like we’re going to win this thing.
I remember when you first got Archer, Blogs. He was an awesome puppy and an awesome dog. I’m sure he was proud to look back across the rainbow bridge and say, “That was MY human!”. Best wishes to you.