Leicester City v Arsenal review – Drab draw but referee decisions talking point

Arsenal travelled to the East Midlands today to take on Premier League champions Leicester City, and will have to consider themselves lucky to come away with a draw. Ranieri’s side will argue that they could have had two penalties, Coquelin was let off a yellow card for a deliberate foul just outside the box, and had the most clear-cut goalscoring opportunities also. This will certainly not have pleased any Arsenal fan, but it is a result they will take.

We rung the changes after our frustrating 4-3 defeat at home to Liverpool last weekend, with Laurent Koscielny returning to action in place of Calum Chambers, and with both Alex Iwobi and Aaron Ramsey having picked up injuries during our opening match defeat.

Granit Xhaka was chosen to shore up the midfield alongside Francis Coquelin, with Cazorla pushed up to form part of the three behind Alexis Sanchez, between Theo and the Ox.

Our set-up assured that our opponents were limited to only brief spells in or around our penalty box for much of the first half, but we also did not create enough goalscoring opportunities in the opening 40 minutes either. The only shot on target of the half was a Santi Cazorla free kick around 30 minutes in, which produced an impressive Kasper Schmeichel diving save.

The game suddenly came alive in the last five minutes of the first half, with a lacklustre Arsenal corner eventually going out for a Gunners throw, which was also disappointing, and we were then hit on the counter attack. Riyad Mahrez stormed up the field with the ball, before finding an outstanding ball through to Jamie Vardy which Petr Cech had to cut-out, but he fumbled it, and ending up taking Danny Drinkwater down on the follow-up. We were extremely lucky not to give away a penalty kick.

The game did end up going in at the interval goalless, but we will have had to deem ourselves lucky not to have trailed after the penalty decision, but in all honesty, we dominated possession and gave our rivals very little opportunity to hurt us. All-in-all, a very boring 45 for the neutral fans.

No changes were made during the break, but the game started more brightly, with both sides upping the tempo of the game, and Petr Cech could well have given us the first big talking point of the half, as he almost lost control of the ball around Jamie Vardy, before a neat piece of skill by the shot-stopper moved the ball away from danger.

We were then given another gift by referee Mark Clattenburg, when Francis Coquelin, who had already been booked, brought Mahrez down just outside the box. A yellow card would have been hard to argue, but we were allowed to continue with 11 men, and the free kick was put over the bar.

Shortly after, we are hitting them on the break, and Hector Bellerin hits a half-volley at goal, only for Schmeichel to easily wrap things up. A spell of attacks followed, and Theo Walcott looked to have been put through one-on-one with the keeper, only for the offside flag to go up, and his shot had of course ended up in the net after hitting the keeper on the way past.

Laurent Koscielny proves why he was such a huge talking point having missed last week’s loss, coming from far behind to deny Jamie Vardy a shot on goal inside the penalty box, after he got in behind the defence from a neat through ball with only 20 minutes to go.

With just over 15 minutes of normal time remaining, Wenger makes his substitutions, with Ozil and Jack Wilshere coming on to replace Cazorla and Xhaka. The Ox was soon after replaced by Olivier Giroud.

With 10 minutes remaining, things were certainly looking up, with Wilshere firing in a dangerous cross which was crucially intercepted, before Walcott’s shot was blocked by Wes Morgan as it looked to be going in. We continued to push on and try and snatch that all-important goal, and the key changes were looking to be paying off, although the goal still evaded us.

The Foxes now looked happy just to try and hang onto the point, with as many as eight players back inside the box to deny us from breaking the deadlock. Ranieri may have other ideas to the men on the pitch however, as he brings on Ahmed Musa for Albrighton in an attacking change.

The speedster manages to break into the box, and looks for a penalty, but the referee adamantly refuses to grant a late penalty, as both sides looked to earn a late win.

The remaining minutes of the game were all in favour of Leicester, and we will have to consider ourselves rather lucky not to have gone down, especially with such a late free-kick right outside the box. The result will not have been what we were looking for, but we will somehow come away slightly happy not to have lost, especially as there were claims for at least two penalties for last season’s champions. They also had the most clear-cut chances, but for me, this just highlights why we need that new striker added, as our dominance of possession deserved more.

Gooner P

Tags Arsenal Leicester

71 Comments

    1. Winning ???? You actually thought we could win the league with Wenger again ?? Seriously, with this team..

        1. Wenger is destroying Sanchez
          Wenger would rather not win any trophies but save money to his masters.
          Cech kos and clattenburg deserve a round of applause they kept us in the game.
          If finishing tenth is what will make Wenger leave us then so be it
          Right now I would take van gaal in a heartbeat.

      1. i am not talking about wenger. u can see my comment and pls dont spoil our dreams by saying the name of this man. He has already spoiled our so many years and still doing proudly.

    2. This team is terrible and our pass to death style of play is annoying because we just don’t take enough shots at goal to work the opposition goalkeeper

      1. What about you NY_Gunner. Anything you want to say in your beloved manager’s defence?? Oh wait..he doesn’t have a defence cause he too cheap to buy a CB…lollllll…

          1. To be fair, he makes a good point. Holding looks closer than most folks thought (but hopefully not so close that Wenger thinks he is ready to partner Koscielny on a full time basis)

  1. Yeah, Arsenal got away with that one 🙂

    Koscielny MOTM. Holding looks class. Striker issues continue. Really impressed with Wilshere when he came on.

    1. Wilshere did absolutely nothing I don’t even know what you’re praising him for,all I saw was him doing his usual of running into players instead of releasing the ball

      1. I saw a willingness to take on players unlike Cazorla and Ozil. His passing was also crisp and he was strong in possession.

        1. Wilshere luked gud.but was brought in too late ,likewise ozil,infact the first sub that wenger was supposed to make was bring on giroud.we needed him im the box as we had lost our way and were clueless as how to score.no presence in the box at all.this is another droppes.points poor team selection from wenger very poor

    2. i agree Twig the defence looked well, i think we played ok and if last week had been a win we would be ok now. on the negative we need a striker in the Dybla mould but i think all the top strikers have moved already. it will be a tough season. one thing wenger doesn’t change why leave it so late for Giroud

  2. I wonder how ADMIN will defend this performance,this team is not good enough all round and Mr Theo ten years at Arsenal A.K.A Mr run and leave the ball behind Walcott is the worst!!

    1. Admin response : If you have a crystal ball, give me the lottery numbers…

      Even with Admin its about the money. Nobody cares about the club. Its a business.. lol..

      1. @roe- han
        You must still live with mom and dad dude. Because without the business side , there will be no football side.
        Guess you think they buy players with Monopoly money..,

  3. My my my? Now i am completely shocked.what hve i just watched? We were cluless the whole first half.i was watching the game and thinking how will we score? We are clueless in the final third.why wenger subbed ox and kept sanchez on i dont get he was not himself today.wilshere luked gud,likewise ozil but our defence is all over the place.if not for koss we could hve been hammered.not happy with a point liecester were luking vunrable we just didnt take the game tothem.

    1. bert or ernie would score the goals walcott isnt.

      hiya bert 🙂

      at least hes trying …il give theo that

    2. Here comes the Walcott bandwagon again

      What about the goals Sanchez isn’t scoring? You’re aware Sanchez was playing no. 9 today right? He was our worst player on the pitch.

      1. Thats happen when a 8m a year coach dont want to invest in his team, talking about 30m is to much for this club even when palace pay that amount this days, and try to creat a number 9 no prove his wrong point…sanchez is a creative player with goslscoring habilities…he has to play for the wing or u lose a huge side of his game…also at n9 he dont have to much rhe ball..so stop to point ur finger tu alexis and look at the man men who is in charge

  4. atleast wenger should come out and say we are playing for top 4 spot to make things easiy fr us

  5. I predicted a draw before the game started.. Good to have Kos back. Holding did OK. I like him. You can see he felt comfortable playing with an experience defender. That’s how a young player grows by learning and playing with a CB. Kudos to him, we need another experience CB. It will do holding and Chambers good.. .Monreal and Coquelin played well in neutralising Mahrez threat…

    Ozil light the game a bit. Santi knows how to twist and turn in tight corners. No wonder we possess the ball pretty well..

    Sánchez ain’t a striker. Not a loan striker. Maybe it will work in a 442 formation. He had a poor game. Way below his standard.

    Once again, a striker and CB will do this team alot of good..

  6. laurent koscielny carrying on where he left off.
    best defender in the pl

    if it was chambers an holding again.

    4-0 leicester

    WE LOVE U LAURENT

    1. Spot on muff.if not for koss we could hve been hiding in our offices when reporting in for work haha

    2. he deserves better. We’re a disgrace. The least our players can do is score a damn goal after all the ones he prevented today.

  7. Guys, what a under average performance… Only positive: xhaka. He sets the tempo of the game well and resembles the vocal player every team wants to have. He’ll be a vital foundation in midfield this season and for the future. Other than that… I dont know what to say about this team… No hunger and bite to turn tings around whatsoever. Im sick and tired of wenger. He surely is a good manager, but a bad coach (and a bad motivator on top of that) his only excuse for not taking part in the transfer market is, that the prices and inflation itself went mad and that hes not willing to be a part of this party. BUT IF YOU’RE NOT WILLING TO CHANGE AND ADJUST TO THOSE PRICES, WILL YOU CHANGE YOUR 8MILL/Y SALARY FOR THE 2MILL YOU RECIEVED WHEN THE MARKET WAS LIKE YOU’RE USED TO??? he’s a twofaced business man and nothing more…. He ‘s living in a different world than the fans… I cant take it anymore.

    1. nt true sam.

      leicester fans threw missiles into arsenal stand it hit a kid. an kicked off

      gooners stuck together

  8. if not for kos and the ref we would have lost this one also. As usual all the display of trying to look pretty but with no end result. We should stop this over passing in oppositions box. Just shoot the damn ball.

  9. I told guys we will regret keeping wenger for anothee year.sure ull say just two games but what was going on in the pitch? We just pass the ball and reach the wing and we return it back thencpass it back to the wing then we loss tht was the cycle. How could we score we were clueless ,the ox was the only positive during first half,theo showed glimpses but sanchez? He is totally lost.wenger is destroying the lads comfidence he luks lost in cf.i think this was a gamble from wenger showing us he had sanchez as cf but even a blind man can see it has backfired bigtime.xhaka is gud but will need time to settle in.we seriously need a striker lol .this game was favouring liec as they just sat in let us pass pass we clueless we give em they just hit the ball forwards.am just happy all our cbs were speedy guys or u know what might hve happened.now emirates will be like an away pitch unless players brought in to calm down the fans.

  10. I remember telling every one on this site that monreal coquelin and xhaxa are only good squad players.
    Cazorla and sanchez are just B+ players.
    If I were ozil I will immediately demand to be released this summer

    1. absolute bs bro.

      sorry ur way off
      all those players listed are quality internationals
      especially sanchez

    2. I hate to agree but ur spot on mate.but i blame the manager as he has not effectively utilising this guys like sanchez he just needs to play direct soccer. Never in a million years will he be a striker(this is wengers ploy not to buy a striker).we need to know what to do to score we just pass pass and then pass to opponent . Todays game shows we hve so many errors not only defence,our forward guys luk lost and out of context. Maybe its early days but when we playing against teams that love to counter we will be exposed as we do alot of turnovers.bellerin luked weak today,both offensive and defensive.our quality for final pass isnt there.

    3. Stop blaming the players. Manager is beyond incompetent and clueless. The fact you think Sanchez is a B+ player because he had a bad game out of position with zero quality chances created for him during the entire 180 minutes of football we’ve played so far, just goes to show how far from the truth your comment is.

      1. Guardiola would’ve wiped the floor with Leicester today with the same squad of players. Even with Walcott on squad. Wenger hasn’t been able to motivate our players for years, besides for getting a 4th place spot.

  11. Obviously, even the signing of Mustafi without a striker will get Arsenal nowhere. I can boldly say with shame that We are a Average team. In addition, though still earlier, but don’t expect extraordinary stuff from Xhaka, he’s just there.

  12. It doesn’t take a manager to know we NEED a striker! Pay Lyon whatever it takes and get this Lacazette deal over with.

  13. This was a game we could have easily lost.we had some help from the referee today to avoid the defeat. Now we are already five points behind off the top. We simply do not have that player who could change the game with individual brilliance. We are clueless in the final third.I could go on about what is wrong with the club but we all know it except for wenger and the board members. Very sad to be playing catch up this early in the season.

  14. Arsenal already playing catch-up, being 5 point behind our strong competitors City, Man U and Chelsea. Why do i already feel we may even struggle to get into the top 4 this season? Always cheering the players up and hoping for the best in my heart, but it is just not happening…

    1. And that is without facing them? Just feeling sad amd angry.we will release our favourite phrase nxt year is our year on october or will it be September?

  15. IMHO this was another demonstration that we don’t have sufficient quality in the final third. Obviously we need a striker, but we also need a complement for Sanchez on the other wing. It is not Walcott. An argument could be made that players are not fit yet, but in four more games the season could be over. Kos was definitely the man of the match. Several players need to step it up soon.

  16. Wow it takes dude over 20+ years to figure out this team isn’t good enough……..

    #Wengerlogic

  17. It was an improvement defensively. Kos in and Chambers out makes a big difference. Also our midfield worked a bit better defensively. But going forward we were terrible. Not a single decent goalscoring opportunity. It is not only that Sanchez is useless as a forward. None of our players created anything for him.
    We seem miles behind Man U & C, & Chelsea. Teams w sere front of last season. But it is no surprise. We have done nothing to stay ahead.

    1. It wasn’t pretty that’s for sure and we will hopefully see Ozil and Giroud back starting next week. Those two, with Sanchez playing on the left, instantly makes us more of a threat.

      And after seeing Xhaka today I’m a bit more optimistic that he can be that defensive enforcer. Another couple games and maybe then we don’t need Coquelin to shore things up thus allowing Carloza to slot back in as B2B. Another big plus.

      C’mon guys, it’s not all doom and gloom. We drew away to the Champions (albeit with a bit of luck) yet folks are acting like we just lost to Hull at Emirates or something. The transfer saga is frustrating but I still feel Wenger will bring in an experienced CB and a big money wild card attacker before the window closes.

    2. team is entirely dependent on Ozil. In terms of creating chances nobody else can do anything. Our crosses are League One quality, finishing non-existent, and we still insist on walking the ball into the net. A boring, boring game. All we were waiting for was for Leicester to finish us off on the counter, but luckily they had a bad day, and Clattenburg missed a call. Pitiful performance.

  18. Arsenal are genuinely dead as a football team. No life in them whatsoever. All because one stubborn man doesn’t know when his time is up

  19. wenger just stated ‘I am a bit fed up to always respond to the same things. We look and analyse absolutely everything and we have to make the right decisions.
    ‘What matters is that the end of a month we make sure that a club that has 600 employees can pay them all. That is the most important thing.
    ‘Afterwards if you have the money to spend £300 million you can do it. But at the end of the month you have to respect everyone who works for the club.’

    Im gobsmacked

  20. Lacazette is only worth £30-£40 mil but I say pay the £60 million that Lyon wants
    At this late stage you need to pay over the value prices
    Alexis and Walcott are not the answers to our CF problem. Giroud is just a slight improvement

    We need Goals!

  21. For the first time in many, many years I didn’t watch the game today. I decided to do something constructive with my 2 hours, so I had a sleep instead. I might watch MOTD as I’ve run out of mogadone.

    1. nothing happened, barley any highlights besides close PK calls for Leicester. At this point I don’t even expect us to beat Watford next weekend. My expectations were already low this season, but now I have close to none. As long as Wenger doesn’t renew his contract this season will be 100% worth it.

    1. hard to believe he’s 20, good performance from the youngster. Koscielny MOTM though for sure. CB’s performance today are the one positive for sure.

  22. Remember back end of last season Wenger said ‘players are fighting for their place in the team.’ At this point Walcott was on bench, Joel Campbell took his place because he played better.

    Well look what happened yet again.
    Walcott comes into the team by default as I said he would do, and in doing so Joel is left out of squad. So next time when you hear ‘Players are fighting for their place’. All that means is that they are until top four position is secured.

    1. @HA559
      Word is, Joel is in Portugal having a medical in ready to go to Sporting on a season long loan.
      Had he been playing Alexis would have gotten more and better service.

  23. When there are 0 or 1 player in the box Ox sends in great crosses.
    When there are 3-4 players in the box Ox sends in poor crosses.

  24. This match was simply an embarrassment. The result of a senile manager living in the past and a bunch of mostly dead wood & directionless players.
    Its just 2 games yet we’re already 5 points behind true competitors. How come our players didn’t seem so match fit yet other top clubs are winning matches with their players?? Why can’t we make substitutions before the 75th minutes?? Why is Sanchez being consistently played as a 9 to frustration? How are ozil,sanchez and ramsey top tournament players yet they seem like flops in our games? And why does our manager just keep sitting on the bench like a defeated general?
    So many questions. Too bad I believe all these questions have a simple answer.

  25. I swear i will
    Never watch arsenal play if walcot is in first Eleven. Such a headless chicken,playing no brain footbal. He cant even think on how to finish them. WTF. Joel campbell is much better than him. Stupid wenger

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