Leicester City beat a ten-man Arsenal 3-1 at the King Power Stadium in their Premier League clash on Wednesday evening, writes DEAN WORKMAN.
Both sides came into the game with not much but pride to play for. Leicester had been safe from relegation for a few weeks, while Arsenal had cemented sixth spot and were simply looking to continue Wenger’s farewell parade with a victory.
The Gunners started well and created the first real opening after seven minutes. A typical Arsenal move saw them knock the ball around before it reached Alex Iwobi. The Nigerian tried to sneak the ball in at Eldin Jakupovic’s near post, but the keeper was equal to the effort.
Claude Puel’s team responded and after Jamie Vardy went close, Kelechi Iheanacho gave the Foxes the lead. A good ball to the back post was met by Fousseni Diabaté, who headed the ball down into the path of Iheanacho who then thumped his volley past Petr Cech, 1-0 to the home side after 14 minutes.
Disaster then hit the Gunners as Konstantinos Mavropanos was given his marching orders just a minute after the opening goal. The young defender was caught on the ball by Iheanacho and as he began to run through on goal, Mavropanos hauled him down.
It was all Leicester and they created a number of openings but could not find the back of the net.
Arsenal had a good spell before the break but could not find a way past Jakupovic – 1-0 at the break and Wenger’s men had a big task in the second half.
The game well and truly opened up in the second half as both teams drove forward and traded chances.
Arsenal then capitalised on one of their openings as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang levelled the scores. Ainsley Maitland-Niles crossed the ball in from the right-hand side, it was met by the Gabonese striker who saw his first attempt saved but made no mistake when the ball rebounded back into his path, 1-1 after 53 minutes.
The game remained extremely open but both teams were struggling to create any clear-cut chances. Then another mistake at the back gifted the Foxes the lead. Demarai Gray dribbled into the box, was brought down by Henrick Mkhitaryan and the referee pointed to the spot. Jamie Vardy stepped up and fired his shot into the top corner, 2-1 to the home side after 76 minutes.
Rhiyad Mahrez then wrapped up the game for Leicester at the end of normal time. The Algerian was slipped through on the counter; he drove forward into the box and after dummying both the defender and the goalkeeper, he stroked the ball into the goal.
With the score 3-1 at the whistle, Leicester snapped a five-game losing streak while Arsenal lost yet another game away from home.
Photo: David Davies/Backpagepix
