Gabriel Martinelli struck as Arsenal defeated Leicester City at King Power Stadium to extend their lead on the Premier League top.
Starting Lineup
Leicester City: Danny Ward; Timothy Castagne, Harry Souttar, Wout Faes, Victor Kristiansen; Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Wilfred Ndidi; Tete, Dennis Praet, Harvey Barnes; Kelechi Iheanacho.
Arsenal: Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Odegaard, Jorginho, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard.
Arsenal dominated proceedings as the game started, earnestly pushing for a win as they hope to stem off the pressure from City in the title race.
In the 26th minute, Leandro Trossard dropped the curtain-raiser after a corner kick.
Bukayo Saka’s inswinger was punched away by Ward, but Xhaka collected the ball back in the box and located Trossard, who crashed it into the top corner.
The Gunner’s traveling fans erupted with celebrations, but a VAR check was called and it was a sad one for the visitors. They had thought they had taken a deserved lead before referee Craig Pawson ruled out the goal after VAR showed Ben White clinging to the glove of Ward during the corner kick.
Leicester City were awarded a freekick and the scoreline returned to 0-0
Leicester also found the back of the net a few minutes after Leandro Trossard’s disallowed goal.
Zinchenko gave away the ball easily following a poor clearance. Tete lashes on it and quickly sets up Nigeria international Iheanacho on the run with a good throughball.
Iheanacho then picked his way into the Arsenal box and beat Ramsdale with a cool effort, chipping the ball over him. Sadly, the goal was ruled offside as the replay showed Iheanacho making his move too fast and falling into Arsenal’s offside trap.
The last 14 minutes of the first half saw Arsenal push harder for a goal, but Leicester held on, going into the break on a barren note.
Both sides found the back of the net, but Arsenal were the better side dominating play and making attempts on goal throughout the first half.
Leicester City gave a good account of themselves but played second fiddle to the league leaders. They sat back in their own half trying to defend the ball in the first 45 minutes and did not record a single attempt on target.
Brendan Rodgers had to do more to bring more energy and drive into the squad rather than hoping to counter the Gunners and leaving their forward Iheanacho lonely upfront with long balls.
Arsenal finally took a deserved lead in the first minute of the second half. Gabriel Martinelli put the Gunners ahead after he curled Leandro Trossard’s pass into the bottom corner to give the Gunners the lead.
In the 51st minute, Tete almost found an equaliser for the Foxes after he nearly slide in Barnes’ cross but missed due to the speed of the cross.
Arsenal still dominated play after the goal. Brendan Rodgers made some changes to bring more energy into the team, all to no avail.
Arsenal held on to the narrow 1-0 lead to secure all three points after the final whistle. The win have seen the Gunners extend their lead on the Premier League table.
