What to look out for when Arsenal play Leicester City on Sunday


What to look out for when Arsenal return to Premier League action against Leicester City on Sunday

By Adam Le Roux

With a successful start to the Europa League campaign under their belts, Arsenal return to Premier League action this Sunday as they welcome Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City to the Emirates. 

The games are coming thick and fast at the moment, meaning Mikel Arteta and his side can’t rest on their laurels after a come-from-behind victory in Vienna on Thursday, with the Foxes ready to pounce if the Gunners aren’t on their game. 

This will be the second time in just over a month that the two sides have met, with Arsenal taking the bragging rights in September’s 2-0 Carabao Cup victory, albeit with two much-changed teams taking to the field that night. 

In the league it has been a different story when these two have clashed in recent times, with the Foxes unbeaten in the last three meetings. 

In fact, you’d have to go back to 2018 for the last Premier League victory for Arsenal in this fixture, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netting twice in a 3-1 victory that day. 

With both sides playing in midweek there can be no excuses for a European hangover from the Gunners, who will have to be on their game to keep the Foxes frontline at bay throughout the 90 minutes. 

Time to end the Vardy party

And that’s because this man just seems to love scoring against Arsenal, bagging ten goals in the 11 times he has played in the fixture, including four in his last three outings against the Gunners. 

Vardy is set to make his return from injury at the Emirates on Sunday, and keeping the frontman quiet will go a long way to nullifying the threat that Rodgers’ side will pose. 

We all know the Foxes love to spring forward in sharp bursts but, with the additional pace of Gabriel in the Arsenal backline, they look more able to deal with the threat of the former Fleetwood man this time around. 

With the perseverance of Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos in midfield, the key will be to stop the service to the frontman from James Maddison and Youri Tielemans, who can hurt many a side given the time and space to do so. 
 

Flying start key to foiling Foxes

Mikel Arteta will want his side to stamp their authority on this game early doors, with the visitors seeming to be at their most fallible in the first 15 minutes of matches this season. 

The Foxes have conceded in the first quarter of an hour three times in their last four Premier League matches, with a slow start costing them in a 3-0 defeat to West Ham, although they came back to defeat both Manchester City and Burnley. 

But if the Gunners can grab themselves an early goal at the Emirates it will open the game up the longer it goes on, and if they can keep it tight at the back there will no doubt be more chances falling their way. 

Fortress Emirates

Despite playing behind closed doors for much of it, it has been a successful calendar year to date at the Emirates Stadium, with the Gunners yet to taste Premier League defeat at home in the whole of 2020. 

You have to go back to December last year for the last time Arsenal came out of a match on their own turf empty handed, with Chelsea emerging 2-1 victors three days before the new year. 

Sunday’s opponents were actually the last team to emerge from the Emirates with a point, after a 1-1 draw in July, albeit against ten men after Eddie Nketiah’s dismissal. 

Mikel Arteta has really got the team confident and full of urgency when they play on their home patch, and he will be looking to exert that dominance once again as he looks to keep pace with the leading pack.

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