A new start to the Premier League (PL) season reaped the same results for Arsenal, who secured a fourth-successive home league victory with a 4-2 win over Leicester City.
The Gunners hosted the Foxes at the Emirates Stadium in their first home league game of the season. Backed by a vocal crowd, they were eager to continue with their winning ways. Mikel Arteta fielded the same starting XI as last week, with Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu returning to the squad as substitutes.
Brendan Rogers, on the other hand, went with a tried and tested front pairing of James Maddison and Jamie Vardy up front. He chose a conservative 3-5-1-1 formation to start with. Leicester City was keen for a win after throwing away a two-goal lead against Brentford to draw 2-2 last time around.
Arsenal began the first half in the same, aggressive fashion in which they began the game last week. They controlled the tempo of the game, using positional rotations to confuse their opponents. Having built momentum early in the game, the Gunners looked likelier to open the scoring.
They were on the scoresheet within 23 minutes as Granit Xhaka played the ball into Gabriel Jesus’ path. He made quick adjustments to create space and chipped the ball over the defenders and goalkeeper Danny Ward to make it 1-0. It was his first Premier League goal for the Gunners.
Leicester City struggled to contain the Gunners as they rotated seamlessly, making it hard for the visitors to man-mark them. Wesley Fofana and Jonny Evans found themselves in tough situations as they were forced into committing tackles.
Arsenal continued to dominate the game and added a second goal just 12 minutes following the opener. Gabriel Jesus found himself placed perfectly at the far post to tap-in from Vardy’s attempted clearance to make it 2-0.
The Brazilian had two big chances to add to his tally. However, he was thwarted by Daniel Amartey first, and then by Danny Ward in goal. Arteta looked jubilant as his side went into the break with a comfortable 2-0 lead.
The game burst into life in the second half, with Leicester City seemingly lacing up their scoring boots during the interval. The visitors were gifted a goal shortly after the restart following an uncharacteristic error from William Saliba. He headed the ball past his own ‘keeper to make it 2-1.
However, Arsenal soon hit back to restore the two-goal cushion. Granit Xhaka made another key run into the box and was assisted by Jesus as he made it 3-1.
Leicester brought on several players and changed their formation in a bid to try out newer ways of attacking. It paid off as substitute Kelechi Iheanacho came on and provided the assist for James Maddison’s goal to make it 3-2.
But once again, Arsenal replied almost instantly after conceding. This time it was Martinelli whom Jesus provided the assist to, with the pacey winger taking a confident left-footed shot from outside the box to score.
Arsenal won the game comfortably by a scoreline of 4-2.
