Arsenal vs Leicester City – Match Preview and Team News

The Football Faithful

·28 September 2024

Arsenal vs Leicester City – Match Preview and Team News

Arsenal welcome Steve Cooper’s Leicester City to North London this Saturday with Mikel Arteta’s team looking to extend their unbeaten start to the campaign.

The Gunners showed grit, determination and resilience to earn a hard-fought point away at Manchester City last weekend, with a 98th minute John Stones equaliser the only thing preventing Arsenal from collecting a famous three points.

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Leandro Trossard will be available for selection again after the Belgian served his suspension for the red card he received against City, sitting out Arsenal’s midweek win over Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup.

However, there is a huge cloud of doubt over the fitness of David Raya with Mikel Arteta playing coy over the Spaniard’s availability.

Arsenal vs Leicester City – Match Preview and Team News

Form

Arsenal: DWDDW

It was a momentous maiden start for Hale End academy product Ethan Nwaneri on Wednesday night as the teenager recorded a brace against Bolton.

Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling, on his full debut for the Gunners, also scored to see off League One opposition in a 5-1 rout.

Prior to the thrashing, Arsenal had drawn three out of their last four games, so Arteta will be pleased to see his side play some free-flowing football and deservedly winning a football match, albeit against inferior opposition.

They will visit Lancashire in the next round of the Carabao Cup to face Preston North End.

Leicester City: WLDDD

Steve Cooper received criticism in midweek after his side scraped through on penalties against League Two outfit Walsall in the Carabao Cup.

An uninspiring display from a second-string Foxes side frustrated the Leicester fanbase, but they had something to cheer about at full time as goalkeeper Danny Ward saved all three penalties to see them through.

The flak directed towards the English manager could be described as a little misguided, as Leicester have only lost once in their last five games in all competitions.

Back-to-back league draws with Crystal Palace and Everton have ensured Cooper’s side aren’t currently languishing in the relegation spots, but they are still searching for their first league triumph of the campaign.

Read – Eight talking points ahead of the Premier League weekend

Last Meeting

Leicester City 0-1 Arsenal, Premier League, 25th February 2023

A solitary goal from Gabriel Martinelli was enough to separate the two sides the last time they met.

Leandro Trossard thought he had notched his team in front in the first half with a sumptuously curled effort but after a VAR intervention the goal was disallowed due to a foul by Ben White in the build-up.

The Gunners came out after the interval with a renewed sense of purpose and they took the lead inside a minute of the second period.

Martinelli burst through before smartly opening up his body and placing the ball into the back of Danny Ward’s net.

The visitors continued to search for another goal as Bukayo Saka had a goal disallowed for offside, but that Martinelli strike ended up being all that was needed to take the three points back to North London.

Leicester ended up getting relegated to the Championship at the end of the campaign, whilst Arsenal finished second after battling Manchester City in the title race for the majority of the season.

Predicted Line-ups

Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Partey, Rice, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli, Trossard

Leicester City: Hermansen, Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen, Winks, Skipp, Reid, Ndidi, Mavididi, Vardy

Read – Arsenal predicted lineup and team news vs Leicester

Who is the referee?

Samuel Barrott will be the match official. He will be assisted by Scott Ledger and Wade Smith while Dean Whitestone will be the fourth official. The VAR is Paul Tierney and he will be assisted by Sian Massey-Ellis.