Leicester 1-3 Arsenal: 3 things learned as Willian puts on a show
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta got his team selection spot on today as they dominated play and scored three past an injury-ridden Leicester City.
Arsenal’s lack of composure and focus in the first 10 minutes cost them to concede within five minutes as Youri Tielemans slotted the ball into the back of the net. Pablo Mari marked Jamie Vardy in the box, which gave the midfielder the space to place the ball into the back of the net.
From then on, the visitors dominated play while the Foxes looked almost too comfortable as they sat back. Arsenal punished the home side down the right-hand side, which resulted in the first goal.
Willian’s curling free-kick from outside the box on the right-hand side allowed David Luiz to run in and head the ball into the back of the net to level the score.
The Gunner’s second goal came on the stroke of half time through Alexandre Lacazette who converted confidently from the penalty spot following a handball from Wilfred Ndidi.
Arsenal weren’t finished punishing Brendan Roger’s side as early on in the second half, Nicholas Pepe tapped the ball into the net from close range after Martin Odegaard did superbly well to keep the ball alive in the box under pressure.
The home side had a few chances towards the end of the game, but important blocks from Arsenal’s defence saw the game till the end and the Gunner’s took home the three points.
There are many things to take from this action-filled game which I have to whittle down to three, so here they are…
1. Conceding early on… again
I hate to start with a negative, but Arsenal clearly still have a problem with conceding early on in games. It happened in their last league game against Manchester City where Raheem Sterling scored within two minutes.
The mistake today came from the defensive players, who could have done much better when trying to prevent Tielemans from scoring.
Granit Xhaka, who was running alongside him didn’t do enough to try and intercept or retrieve the ball from him, but the bigger mistake came from Pablo Mari, who instead of coming across the box to make it harder for the French midfielder, decided to instead mark dangerman Jamie Vardy at the back post.
The focus and determination is something that Arsenal lack, especially in the first 10-15 minutes of games and it has shown that it can cost them to concede.
Arsenal’s percentage of goals conceded in the first half this season is 63, which is more than any other club in the league this season and something that seems to be a recurring problem for Arteta.
Leicester had only won 1 out of their last 12 Premier League matches, so far Arsenal to react to conceding early on as well as they did, proved that they really wanted the three points.