Leicester City’s Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans against Arsenal (Photo by MICHAEL REGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta got his team selection spot on today as they dominated play and scored three past an injury-ridden Leicester City.
Arsenal’s lack of composure and focus in the first 10 minutes cost them to concede within five minutes as Youri Tielemans slotted the ball into the back of the net. Pablo Mari marked Jamie Vardy in the box, which gave the midfielder the space to place the ball into the back of the net.
From then on, the visitors dominated play while the Foxes looked almost too comfortable as they sat back. Arsenal punished the home side down the right-hand side, which resulted in the first goal.
Willian’s curling free-kick from outside the box on the right-hand side allowed David Luiz to run in and head the ball into the back of the net to level the score.
The Gunner’s second goal came on the stroke of half time through Alexandre Lacazette who converted confidently from the penalty spot following a handball from Wilfred Ndidi.
Arsenal weren’t finished punishing Brendan Roger’s side as early on in the second half, Nicholas Pepe tapped the ball into the net from close range after Martin Odegaard did superbly well to keep the ball alive in the box under pressure.
The home side had a few chances towards the end of the game, but important blocks from Arsenal’s defence saw the game till the end and the Gunner’s took home the three points.
There are many things to take from this action-filled game which I have to whittle down to three, so here they are…
1. Conceding early on… again
I hate to start with a negative, but Arsenal clearly still have a problem with conceding early on in games. It happened in their last league game against Manchester City where Raheem Sterling scored within two minutes.
The mistake today came from the defensive players, who could have done much better when trying to prevent Tielemans from scoring.
Granit Xhaka, who was running alongside him didn’t do enough to try and intercept or retrieve the ball from him, but the bigger mistake came from Pablo Mari, who instead of coming across the box to make it harder for the French midfielder, decided to instead mark dangerman Jamie Vardy at the back post.
The focus and determination is something that Arsenal lack, especially in the first 10-15 minutes of games and it has shown that it can cost them to concede.
Arsenal’s percentage of goals conceded in the first half this season is 63, which is more than any other club in the league this season and something that seems to be a recurring problem for Arteta.
Leicester had only won 1 out of their last 12 Premier League matches, so far Arsenal to react to conceding early on as well as they did, proved that they really wanted the three points.
percentage of goals conceded in the first half this season is 63</a>, which is more than any other club in the league this season and something that seems to be a recurring problem for Arteta.</p>
<p>Leicester had only won 1 out of their last 12 Premier League matches, so far Arsenal to react to conceding early on as well as they did, proved that they really wanted the three points.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/28/leicester-1-3-arsenal-arsenal-willian/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Talking point 2: Confidence down the right-hand side </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><h2>2. Pepe and Willian brilliance</h2>
<div id="attachment_486157" class="wp-caption alignnone">
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-486157 size-large" src=https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/28/leicester-1-3-arsenal-arsenal-willian/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fplayingfor90.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1231432750-850x560.jpeg" alt="Arsenal" width="590" height="389"><p class="wp-caption-text">Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe scores their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Leicester City and Arsenal (Photo by MICHAEL REGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
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<p>Arsenal’s confidence down the left-hand side is what is normally talked about in games, but today, the majority of the action took place down the right-hand side, with Nicholas Pepe playing with confidence.</p>
<p>The winger, who Arsenal signed for £72 million in the summer of 2019, has had a tough start to life in North London, especially trying to play up to the price that Arsenal paid for him, but this season he has had some incredible performances and has proved to Arteta that he deserves to start more regularly.</p>
<p>The Ivorian winger was able to punish Leicester left-back, 19-year old Luke Thomas, causing the youngster to foul Pepe repeatedly and give away free-kicks in dangerous areas, with one of them leading to Arsenal’s equaliser.</p>
<p>Both Willian and Pepe played with such freedom and charged forward with the ball into the final third with conviction.</p>
<p>Willian grabbed an assist and also created four chances while having a 94% pass accuracy, the joint highest on the pitch alongside teammate Emile Smith-Rowe who unfortunately had to be subbed off due to injury.</p>
<p>Since joining Arsenal from Chelsea in the summer, the Brazillian winger hasn’t produced any moments of magic, but today’s game certainly gave him the time to shine and that’s exactly what he did.</p>
<p>In his <a href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/28/leicester-1-3-arsenal-arsenal-willian/"https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12231299/willian-mikel-arteta-says-arsenal-forward-starting-to-produce-but-still-has-more-to-give">pre-match press conference</a>, Arteta said Willian is “starting to produce,” so hopefully Arsenal fans can expect to see more from him in the future.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/28/leicester-1-3-arsenal-arsenal-willian/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Talking point 3: Options in attacking midfield </a>
</div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_486160" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-486160" src=https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/28/leicester-1-3-arsenal-arsenal-willian/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fplayingfor90.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1304526499-850x560.jpeg" alt="Arsenal" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">David Luiz of Arsenal celebrates with teammates (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)</p>
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<h2>3. Arteta can rotate with Smith-Rowe and Odegaard</h2>
<p>Before the signing of highly-rated attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid on loan last month and the exit of Mesut Ozil to Turkish side Fenerbache, Arsenal were relying heavily on youngster Emile Smith-Rowe.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, the youngster has a lot of potential and has put in some excellent performances, but he’s still very young and has a long way to go, so needs that more experienced player in the same position who he can rotate with.</p>
<p>Odegaard went on loan to Real Sociedad last season and scored seven goals and got nine assists in all competitions as well as being one of the Spanish sides top chance creators.</p>
<p>Smith-Rowe had a 94% pass accuracy but unfortunately had to be taken off before half time as he suffered a muscular injury.</p>
<p>Both players provide a pivot in midfield and are able to collect the ball and run forward, as well as finding passes in dangerous positions in the final third.</p>
<p>Arsenal certainly need to try and keep hold of Odegaard and sign him permanently, because he acts as that more experienced attacking midfielder and someone that Smith-Rowe can learn from in the future.</p>
<p>Odegaard will have to prove he is better than Smith-Rowe in order to allow Arteta to give him more minutes so he can show Arsenals fans what he’s really about.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="Mikel Arteta hints Odegaard could stay" data-url="https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/21/arsenal-mikel-arteta-teases-odegaard/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/28/leicester-1-3-arsenal-arsenal-willian/"https://playingfor90.com/2021/02/21/arsenal-mikel-arteta-teases-odegaard/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Mikel Arteta hints Odegaard could stay </a> </div>
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<p>Odegaard loves to pass, which has already been evident in recent games and accurate passing improves Arsenal’s performances a great amount, so the more game time he is given, the more we can see him at his best.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">