By beating Leicester City 2-0, Arsenal FC jumped back into a Champions League place on Sunday night. Also because Aaron Ramsdale grabbed several times in the decisive phase.
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta relied on the same starting eleven after the 3-2 win at Watford FC.
Leicester coach Brendan Rodgers made four changes from the 2-0 Conference League win over Rennes, with Pereira, Maddison, Mendy and Iheanacho starting in place of Justin, Tielemans, Ndidi, and Daka.
In a very entertaining game, the Gunners started strongly and took the lead already in the 11th minute through Thomas, who just missed a brace when he hit the crossbar (18th). Again and again the home side put the Foxes under pressure on the wings, but missed a second goal through Martinelli (21st).
Ramsdale saves Gunners into the break
Leicester initially struggled to keep up the pace and pace of the home side, but became increasingly pressing themselves and dominated the game in the final 15 minutes: first Barnes had a close-range finish, but Ramsdale saved (24), before the keeper was unlucky to see White save from Maddison less than 60 seconds later (25). After just over half an hour, Ramsdale was again in the spotlight when he made a superb save from Barnes to keep the score at 1-0 (36th) – which is why the half-time lead remained.
In the second half, the home side started the game more actively again and consequently had the first chance through Saka, but Schmeichel thwarted it (51.). The Gunners added to their tally shortly afterwards, however, after Söyüncü’s hand was on the ball during another great chance (55th) and Lacazette confidently converted the penalty after a VAR check (59th).
Arsenal manage confidently
The Foxes did not give up at first, however, and narrowly missed the immediate connection in the 66th minute when Tierney intervened at the last moment. After that, however, the visitors’ good reaction to the second goal fizzled out. Arsenal played the game down, while Leicester could no longer conjure up any real danger. Instead, the home side missed a chance for the third goal through Smith Rowe (82nd). The result remained 2-0 and Arsenal moved back up to fourth place, while Leicester remained stuck in mid-table.
The Gunners now have a real showstopper in store for them: Liverpool FC visit London on Wednesday (21.15). Leicester travel to Rennes the following day (18.45) for the quarter-final second leg in the Conference League.
