Leicester vs Arsenal: Gunners look to tighten grip at the top

Arsenal travel to the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon looking to strengthen their grip at the top of the table with a win over Leicester City.

The Gunners enjoyed a sensational first half to the 2022/23 season and were eight points clear of defending champions Manchester City only a few weeks ago. This lead to many pundits claiming that the North Londoners were red-hot favourites to go on and claim their first league title since 2004.

However, football today is unpredictable and Arsenal have suffered a mini-blip in recent weeks. They slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park at the start of February with James Tarkowski’s header giving Sean Dyche a much-needed win in his first game in charge. Then came a hugely controversial 1-1 draw with Brentford at the Emirates after VAR incorrectly allowed the visitors late equaliser to stand despite two players being in an offside position.

Arsenal fought well against Man City in the top-of-the-table clash in North London nine days ago but Pep Guardiola’s men came out 3-1 victors to close the gap on the league leaders. However, the Gunners finally got back to winning ways with a 4-2 comeback win at Aston Villa last weekend. And with City drawing at Nottingham Forest, Mikel Arteta’s side head into the weekend action two points clear with a game in hand so they can cement their position at the top with a win over Leicester.

After impressive wins over Villa and Tottenham recently, the Foxes saw their revival come to an abrupt end with a 3-0 defeat to Manchester United last weekend. Brendan Rodgers will be keen to pick up a positive result tomorrow as they are just four points clear of the drop zone in 14th place in the table.

Team news

Arsenal could welcome Thomas Partey back into the squad after he missed the last two games with a muscle injury. However, Arteta may not rush him back with Jorginho set to keep his place in the middle of the park.

Gabriel Jesus has stepped-up his return from knee surgery in recent weeks but this game still comes too soon while Mohamed Elneny remains out with a long-term knee injury.

Leicester will make a late check on James Maddison as he’s struggling with a knee issue. James Justin, Jonny Evans and Ryan Bertrand are also doubts for the hosts.

Youri Tielemans is expected to be recalled after being named on the bench last weekend, and he’ll be looking to impress Arsenal having constantly been linked with a move to the Londoners.

Prediction

Leicester have impressed in recent weeks and could have been two-up on Man Utd had they taken their first half chances so they’ll be quietly confident of getting something from this game. However, Arsenal know this is a great opportunity for them to tighten their grip at the top and we can’t see them passing it up. Leicester 1-2 Arsenal