Arsenal will play its first home Premier League match against Leicester City. Although it’s hard for me to believe I’m saying it, Arsenal ought to win this match. To say that about an Arsenal-Leicester game feels so strange. The Foxes seem to have been the Gunners’ arch-enemy for a very long time.
But in practise, it might not be the case anymore. In the past five encounters between the clubs, Arsenal has prevailed four times, including the last three in the Premier League. The three victories were all by margins of two goals or more. According to Orbinho, Leicester has won only one of their previous 25 road games against Arsenal and has only kept one clean sheet in their last 26 away games.
There is still a Jamie Vardy. He ranks third among all players in the Premier League in terms of goals scored against Arsenal, behind only Harry Kane and Wayne Rooney. Due to injuries, he was unable to play against the Gunners in the spring and has failed to score in his last two matches against Mikel Arteta’s team. He has never failed to score in three games against Arsenal. James Maddison, who has four goals and four assists in his previous five Premier League games, is another player on fire for Leicester. You may remember that Aaron Ramsdale stopped a Maddison free kick last season in the first meeting between the teams, which was one of the best Premier League saves of the year.
Both teams will need to perform well in the opening 30 minutes of the game. Arsenal will have the support of their home crowd for their opening home game of the year, therefore they should do well. The Gunners have won each of their last 15 games when they score in the first 45 minutes, and they haven’t won any of those games when they don’t. In a similar spirit, Arsenal earned the joint-fewest points in the Premier League last season by coming back from deficits. The Gunners must score first and keep up any early advantage they may have built.
For the Gunners, attacking corners is a crucial component. Last season, Arsenal scored three times as many goals from corners as any other team in the Premier League, including twice against Leicester City. In the first game, they beat Crystal Palace thanks to a corner goal.
Harvey Barnes will be out for a few more weeks with a knee ailment, and Brendan Rodgers will be without Ricardo who recently underwent surgery to fix an Achilles issue. Both Reiss Nelson and Fabio Vieira won’t be available for Mikel Arteta. Although Vieira has healed from the foot ailment that prevented him from participating in preseason, he is still not prepared to perform matchday duties. It doesn’t look good, and Reiss Nelson is awaiting the results of a scan on a muscular issue. He appears to be out for three months with a potential muscle tear. For the Gunners, Kieran Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe, and Takehiro Tomiyasu ought to be available.
One other thing to remember, Kasper Schmeichel, a familiar figure at Leicester City, won’t be the Foxes’ goalkeeper. The international from Denmark just moved to Nice in Group One.
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