Arsenal vs Leicester a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
February 14, 2016
1,582 Views
- Well that result isn’t going to decide the destiny of the Premier League title but it will certainly have a massive bearing come the end of the season.
- Danny Welbeck is the toast of The Emirates but it’s heartbreak for Leicester earlier on Today
- Arsenal were quick out of the blocks and certainly started the brighter with Alexis Sanchez having a headed effort after just a minute of the game gone
- Leicester were subdued for the first 15 Minutes but they started to come into the game with Jamie Vardy forcing an excellent save from Petr Cech after his header looked goalbound
- Possibly one of the most pivotal moments of the Premier League season so far happened just before half time when Jamie Vardy was bundled down in the box by Nacho Monreal.
- There wasn’t a great amount of contact by Monreal offered Vardy the opportunity to go down and the England International didn’t hesitate on making the most of it
- He then stepped up to fire his spot kick home and put Leicester ahead at the break, at this point they were 8 points clear of Arsenal and enforcing their title winning credentials.
- Leicester had a big claim for a Penalty just 5 minutes after the restart when Riyad Mahrez’s protests where waved away by Referee Martin Atkinson. I think he got this decision right but you could argue why Mahrez perhaps should have been booked if the Penalty wasn’t given. Then again No Penalty doesn’t automatically mean Yellow Card
- Then what was THE turning point of the game. Danny Simpson’s sending off. Two Yellow Cards in quick succession may seem like a soft way to get Sent Off but Simpson only has himself to blame.
- With Leicester down to 10 Men for the remaining 35 Minutes, that period of time was going to be a defining period of this season. Could Leicester hold on
- The sending off of Simpson meant that Claudio Ranieri had to make tactical changes and one of those was sacrificing Riyad Mahrez and making Jamie Vardy the only out ball with his pace
- It certainly hampered The Foxes as now they had there backs to walls, Arsene Wenger would look to gain from Arsenal’s numerical superiority by adding more pack to The Gunners attack namely in the form of Theo Walcott
- Wenger didn’t have long to wait for his rewards as Walcott levelled the scores after a clever knockdown from Oliver Giroud
- Danny Drinkwater should also have been sent off for a nasty tackle on Aaron Ramsey and Leicester down to 9 Men. Thankfully Martin Atkinson didn’t see the challenge. Arsenal may have had their complaints but they were lucky not to lose Mathieu Flamini to a similar challenge last week against Bournemouth. Although I guess Refereeing decisions don’t really balance themselves out like that
- Then it was wave after wave of Arsenal pressure. They thought they had got the winner in the 87th Minute but Kasper Schmeichel made a phenomenal save to keep Leicester level.
- By this point Arsenal had rolled all their dice and it looked like The Foxes had got a heroic point
- But in the 94th Minute Marcin Wasilewski’s needless tackle gave Arsenal one last hope, a Free Kick was duly whipped in by Mesut Ozil and Supersub Danny Welbeck popped up to head home a crucial winner for Arsenal
- It was a cruel blow for Leicester. The question now is, will this knock the wind out of their title sails. They stay top Tonight but the manner in which they lost could have real repercussions in their hunt for the title
- As for Arsenal it’s the opposite as this win could be absolute massive, it could be the point in which they kick on and go and win the title. They couldn’t afford to lose Today and now they’ve pulled themselves right into the race and arguably favourites
- Arsene Wenger will get the plaudits for his substitutions that won the game
- While Claudio Ranieri will get the respect for taking the defeat with good grace but how gutting will that lack of game management right at the end prove to be
- One thing we do know is that this season is nowhere near done yet
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