Arsenal- Lacazette (2 mins), Welbeck (47 mins), Ramsey (82 mins), Giroud (85 mins)
Leicester- Vardy (28 mins and 55 mins), Okazaki (4 mins)
Overview:
Arsenal started brightly with record signing Alexandre Lacazette's first goal in Arsenal colours. A lovely chipped cross from Elneny was headed home by the Frenchmen. Leicester responded perfectly 2 minutes later. Defensive mistakes including Cech being caught in no mans land allowed Okazaki to head home the equaliser. Leicester then took the lead when Xhaka sloppily gave the ball away in Arsenal's half and Albrighton's low cross was thumped home by Jamie Vardy. Just before the break Arsenal played their way beautifully through the Leicester defence and Kolasinac rolled the ball for Danny Welbeck to chip into an empty net. The second half took up the same frantic pace. Leicester again took the lead after Mahrez's corner was flicked home by Vardy once again. Aaron Ramsey and Oliver Giroud then played the part of super subs for Arsenal. Ramsey equalised to make it 3-3 after Xhaka found him in the box. A lovely touch with the outside of his boot then a thumping strike into the top corner started yet another Arsenal comeback. Oliver Giroud then headed home Xhaka's corner 3 minutes later. The remaining ten minutes led to an extremely open game. On the night, Arsenal's Achilles heel remains in their defence. An extremely makeshift back 3 consisting of 2 left backs and a young centre back meant there was a lack of organisation and leadership. Whilst Kolasinac showed bright moments when going forward, he simply put wasn't good enough defensively, the same said for both Holding and Monreal. However, the returns of both Laurent Koscielny and Mustafi should bring some stability and familiarity back to the defence. Attacking wise, Arsenal were superb. Several flowing one touch passing moves opened up what is usually a difficult defence to play against. It can also be said that Arsenal's subs were extremely effective as 2 scored and had a massive impact on the game and result. On the other hand Leicester's subs were poor, bringing off a midfielder for a striker whilst 3-2 up at the Emirates seemed to backfire.
Player ratings:
Cech- 6/10: caught in no man land for the first goal but let down by defence for 2nd and 3rd goal.Holding- 5/10: caught out and lack of pace exposed by balls over top to Vardy. Sloppy for 2nd goal.Monreal- 5/10: lacked leadership and organisation, did intercept a few Leicester attacks but out of position.Kolasinac- 6.5/10: best of back 3, good going forward, strong and some good tackles. Not a natural centre half.Bellerin- 6/10: some good moments going forward and was involved in the first goal. Shifted to left back as Arsenal looked to get back into the game and did reasonably well.Ox- 7/10: typical surging runs into final third but not a natural left wing back, some good defensive moments and was ever present in the game.Elneny-6.5/10: few sloppy passes and lacked concentration at some points, however delightful ball into Lacazette for the first goal.Xhaka- 7.5/10: solid as usual, used the ball well, assisted both Ramsey’s and Giroud’s goals,Ozil- 6.5/10: became more prominent and involved in the latter stages when moved centrally.Welbeck- 6.5/10: involved a lot and scored to make it 2-2. Some good passes and dribbling.Lacazette-7.5/10: opened the scoring with a good header and was lively, sharp and involved. Could have had at least 2 on the night.
