Should Arsenal get more credit for double over Leicester?

As an Arsenal fan I have spent the last few weeks cheering on Leicester City because as soon as it was clear that Arsene Wenger would not be picking up the Premier League trophy in May, the only small consolation I could take was if it did not end up in north London at the home of Tottenham instead.

So today was another good day in that respect as the Foxes have just scored a third goal without reply to seal all three points against Swansea City. That will put them eight points ahead of the spuds who only have four games left to play and surely there is no chance of Leicester losing it now.

Another thing I took from today though, apart from more disappointment as we failed to score and beat Sunderland, was the fact that nobody seems to have come up with an answer to Leicester, except Arsenal of course. At the start of the season they were a surprise package but the tactics were nothing special, they just implemented them well and played with passion.

But every single Premier League club has had big problems dealing with them. In fact, Liverpool are the only other club to beat them in the league and that was a very tight 1-0 at Anfield. So should Arsenal get a bit more credit for doing the double over the champions elect?

That is what Arsene Wenger suggested in a Sky Sports interview this week. Or at the very least the Arsenal boss feels that it is a bit harsh for the football media to criticise the Gunners so much when they took five points off Man City and nobody but us have got the best of them on the pitch.

He said, “They have found a good balance, hungry players who have not had obvious careers. We are accused the most, but we beat them twice. So we should be less accused than others for not having beaten them.

“They go to Man City, Tottenham, Man United, Liverpool and have only lost three games. At the end of the day, you have to say well done. Sport is about performance and when the team performs, you have to be big enough and say well done and respect it and respect Claudio Ranieri for what he has done.”

But why were Arsenal the only team to be able to deal with them? And does this not mean that a lot of the criticism should be aimed elsewhere? Of course there is always the counter argument that we have failed to win games that should have been simple, such as against a weakened Swansea. What do you think Gooners?

Tags Man City Wenger

26 Comments

  1. It means nothing! Newcastle beat the eventual league champions Chelsea last season, does that mean Newcastle were a top team last season? Stop trying to scrape together some kind of positive out of Arsenal retched performances, because there isn’t any! The only positives are: another year gone, so Wenger has only one year left of dragging the club down, Elneny and Iwobi being the other positives.

    1. Campbell’s emergence, & Ozil’s development are positives. Doubt there’s any point responding to your Wenger comment.

    2. That’s the problem. He’s not dragging us down. We are stable, too stable. In proper word : stagnant.
      Since useless to call for his head, this season should be his very last lesson. His belief on this team basis has been proving fallacious. Not the cohesion, but the overall consistency. It’s something that belongs to garbage dump. The team is need changes, period. Some 1st team players are should be more proper on the benches, when some others we don’t understand why the hell they still there. Learn Arsene, learn! I still respect you anyway, but that’s why your brain are made it for.

    3. In both games, Leicester had the chances to kill the game off early. They failed to take their chances.

  2. Leicester have done remarkably well this season’s. I wish we had just allowed them beat us becuz they actually are ambitious. Come On You Leicester!

  3. If 4th place is your goal then
    this Arsenal season has been
    a great success.
    If 1st place is your goal then
    this Arsenal season has again
    been 10 months of torture.
    The AKB’S say all the goals have been met.
    The AOB’S say the team failed on all fronts.
    AKB’S want Arsene to stay.
    AOB’S want Arsene out.
    AKB’s see the last 12 years as a success.
    The AOB’s see nothing but failure.
    The truth lies somewhere in between
    but where exactly depends on opinion
    and opinion often over looks unnecessary
    details like fact and evidence.

    1. The silent majority also lies between AKB and AOB. That’s why we ain’t see the empty stadium yet. But, for me, one thing is clear, this team basis need changes. It’s too stupid if you Arsene don’t do something about it for next season.

  4. Thanks for trying to cheer us up, but sorry it doesn’t work, beating the champions and staying 12 points or more behind them is not to be proud of.

    1. That’s not Wengers excuse, that’s something everybody should know by now. Anyone who pays attention can see it. Watch Chelsea next season especially.

      1. Hehehe Trevor, why is that an excuse? Then Spurs with all their games in the Europa league, Carling cup and FA cup would have been 5th or 7th, but they are 2nd and playing really well for a tired team.

        Also, remember the invincibles? they were knocked out of the FA cup and Champions leagues in the 1st week of April, for your excuse, they weren’t supposed to be top of the league by that April coz they were in 3 competitions at the same time? Stop defending Wenger’s incompetencies and failure. He failed big time, he needs to go for Arsenal to flourish again, he can’t take this team further than his yearly trophy

  5. I knew immediately that when the battle and war were lost, that our dear old manager would claim a moral victory, having been the only team to have done a double against “the champions”. To this, I say, codswollop, bolderdash and whatever else!!! Yes you succeeded in doing the double over them but could not do the same over mediocre teams like Chelsea, West Brom, Man United (disgraceful), Spurs, Swansea, Southampton (4-0????). Why must we let him gloat over beating
    Leicester (half of the battle) yet left licking the wounds of having lost the war. Let him go and now as I can’t see him winning anything again next season!!!

    1. We do deserve something for beating them twice, we are undefeated against the champs. So I think it’s only fair that our players get to lace Leicesters boots for them.

      1. Hehehe very lame excuse, so what if we have beaten them twice? Do they give us part of the trophy for us to show off with? beating them means nothing, they are champions, and we are no.4 just hanging by the thread and might fall to no.5, we failed even though we beat them twice, WE FAILED

  6. NO. Arsenal have received credit for beating Leicester twice – they received 6 points.

    The wins vs. Leicester only show what Arsenal CAN do when things go their way.

    They give trophies only for what a team ACTUALLY does in the face of adversity.

  7. I remember I posted a comment after our 2nd leg match against Leicester that if our season imploded, Wenger and some fans will come out to say ‘at least, we did the double against the champions’.
    Seems to be happening now.

    Boy, do I feel like a soothsayer. 🙂

  8. Reading about Sakho getting caught out with doping scandal and I’m wondering about Leicester, it’s probably unfair of me but I couldn’t help wondering all the same. The shear amount of chasing after things that goes on in a lei game and them not really slowing much. I believe there are allot more doping cases in the PL than they let on to. That Rio Ferdinhand thing when he pleaded stupidity then came back at later date/time when he had ample time to flush drugs from system. Nobody cared, or when we lost to some team we barely heard of in the CL, one of them is caught doping, and I think he’s the only one they tested, again nobody cared. When one player from a club is tested positive or caught avoiding a drugs test I think the logical thing to do would be to test the entire squad.

  9. Sorry but I still think spuds will win it and I’m really pi$$ed off about it.

  10. Don’t worry folks, we’re still in with a chance of the double; the Leicester City Cup, and the top 4 cup. Happy days!

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