Ten-man Arsenal slipped to a third consecutive Premier League loss as Jamie Vardy’s late brace sealed Leicester City’s a 3-0 win at the King Power Stadium.
Defeats to Crystal Palace and Wolves in the past week had already damaged the Gunners’ hopes of securing a top-four spot but their latest reverse against the Foxes now means they could end the day four points shy of the Champions League qualification places, if Chelsea overcome Manchester United.
Arsenal were on the backfoot from the outset and their cause was made even more challenging when Ainsley Maitland-Niles received a second yellow card in the 36th minute for a late challenge on James Maddison.
The Leicester midfielder was the provider when Youri Tielemans opened the scoring with powerful header shortly before the hour, while Vardy struck in the 86th minute and stoppage time.
Brendan Rodgers dominated early on – going close through Jonny Evans and Maddison – but it was Arsenal who carved out the first clear opportunity as Alexandre Lacazette bundled wide from 12 yards midway through the first half.
Gunners goalkeeper Bernd Leno produced a superb save to keep out Wilfred Ndidi’s header, while Vardy clipped over the crossbar after being played through by Marc Albrighton.
Kasper Schmeichel repelled Alex Iwobi’s low shot with his foot before Maitland-Niles received his marching orders.
Leno was again called into action before the break, getting down quickly to paw away Vardy’s instinctive effort.
Leicester continued to press when the action resumed and were rewarded after 59 minutes when Maddison’s whipped cross from the right was emphatically headed home by Tielemans.
The Belgian whipped wide soon after before Leno produced excellent stops in quick succession to deny Ricardo Pereira and substitute Harvey Barnes.
A flagging Arsenal capitulated during the closing stages, allowing Vardy to plunder his 17th and 18th Premier League goals of the campaign.
He nodded in when his initial lob over Leno had bounced back off the crossbar before sealing a miserable day for Emery’s side deep into stoppage time, tapping home from close range after impressive play from Pereira.
