By Walter Broeckx
Monreal out with a tight hamstring so we have Lichtsteiner who will play left back. Aubameyang is on the beach for the start of this match.
Arsenal starting with : Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi, Lacazette.
On the beach : Martinez, Medley, Guendouzi, Smith Rowe, Ramsey, Welbeck, Aubameyang.
Leicester with the first break but the shot is diverted over by Holding for a corner. Leno a bit later again with a good stop on a shot from distance. When Arsenal have the ball Leicester drop deep with all 11 players and then speculates on a quick counter. Bellerin with a first attempted shot for Arsenal but it hits Lacazette. Both Arsenal and Leicester walk a thin line when blocking a forward run without the ball but the ref gives nothing in both cases. Xhaka commits a foul just outside the Arsenal penalty area but the ball goes well over. 0-0 after 15 minutes. A typical slow start from Arsenal one could say.
Holding gets a yellow card for holding a player who tried to get away. Holding then gets away with a handball when he was challenged in the air. Arsenal escape. Leno then with a great save on a header from an unmarked McGuire after another free kick. Arsenal need to get their game together and up their tempo. Finally a bit of real pressure from Arsenal resulting in a few corners but no real danger as a result. Lacazette with a fierce shot but it went over the bar. Arsenal having trouble on the left wing with no real natural left foot on that wing. Leicester counter but lucky the cross is too high for Vardy. Leno showing he is a good footballing goalkeeper when he comes far out of his penalty area and produces a fine pass in stead of kicking the ball in the stands. Leicester attack on our right flank and the cross hits Bellerin his foot and wrongfoots Leno and the ball hobbles over the line. 0-1 for Leicester after 30 minutes.
Xhaka with a free kick but Schmeichel tips it over. Iwobi just can’t control a long ball from Mustafi and Schmeicher can grab it. Xhaka with a foul and a yellow card. A few Arsenal players looking not on the same wavelength after the international break and lots of wrong passes. Xhaka with another free kick but the ball goes wide. A corner from Arsenal can’t find a player at the end of it. Iwobi with a shot but Schmeichel saves it. Arsenal now in control and pressing Leicester back. A great attack from the back from Arsenal. Özil gets it on the half way line and sends it to Bellerin who sends in a low cross and Özil is on hand to side foot it in from the post. GOAL! 1-1 after 45 minutes. Just what we needed.
Iwobi with a good run but no Arsenal player at the end of his cross. Lacazette intercepts a back pass and has a shot that is blocked. The ball falls for Mkhytarian but his shot goes wide. And not even a minute later again he has a shot but this time he fires over. Arsenal has upped the tempo in the second half. Suddenly a corner for Leicester and Leno can’t get to the ball and the ball is headed against the crossbar. A narrow escape. For the rest of the second half Leicester is defending with 11 players around their penalty area. After 60 minutes Mkhitaryan goess off and Guendouzi comes on. Lichtsteiner also comes off and Aubameyang comes on. Still 1-1 after 60 minutes.
Arsenal with a great attack. Özil with a pass only he can produce in the path of Bellerin who crosses it to Aubameyang who cool finishes the excellent move. GOAL!! 2-1 to The Arsenal after 63 minutes.
Ricardo gets a yellow card for a clear foul on Aubameyang. Arsenal continue their fluent football. An amazing move with Özil all over it. A first flick on the halfway line to Guendouzi who gives it to Bellerin. Bellerin gives it to Özil who lets it run for Lacazette who gives it back in the path of Özil who is suddenly in front of Schmeichel on his own and the German playmaker gives the ball to Aubameyang who can tip it home. GOAL!!! 3-1 after 66 minutes.
The ref who wasn’t too bad up to now then lets a blatant foul on Lacazette go unpunished. Xhaka now playing a somewhat hanging left midfielder on the flank. The ref simply refuses to give fouls in favour of Arsenal now for a few moments. Iwobi and Özil again combine and Lacazette gets a golden chance to score but he manages to kick the ball in the path of Schmeichel. After 79 minutees Ramsey comes on for Özil who gets a standing ovation.
Iwobi with a low cross to Lacazette but the striker misses the target but it was difficult with a defender making a good block. Iwobi with not for the first time this match showing some great skills on the ball. Arsenal players trying to get Lacazette on the score sheet but it doesn’t work for the Frenchman tonight it seems. 3 minutes of extra time.
Arsenal overplaying it a bit now but Leicester look beaten. Arsenal players fight till the last second and we go to 10 wins in a row. After a first half with the handbrake on we unleash the Arsenal beast in the second half with another amazing display from Özil, two goals from Auba and two assists from Bellerin.
Arsenal are now in 4th place in the league two points behind the league leaders Man City and Liverpool.
Was that 2-1 oooops its 3-1
WOO HOO, HOO ! What an outstanding second half performance.
Iwobi was awesome tonight and double and triple teaming could not shackle him.
Nice standing ovation for Ozil,who was also near perfect.
The 3rd goal was a beauty to behold, give us more of that boys. Well done.
This team are so impressive when they get going, just love some of the goals going in
Great second half from the lads.
At times going forward we look sensational. And lets get this straight, it’s not just against mid/lower teams, we did this to Chelsea at Stamford bridge for decent periods, and we now know how good they are.
But there in lies the problem. Our defending. Lets be honest, in most games we could easily have let more goals in, including tonight, but the mid/lower teams haven’t been good enough to take their chances.
The 2 top 6 teams we’ve played have. Man City getting 2 and Chelsea 3.
Despite these magnificent spells of attacking football and sublime goals, if we carry on in the same defensive vain against the better teams coming up over the next half a dozen or so games we could come unstuck.
I hope not. We could get it sorted, or even win them all 4-3 who knows.
Either way we certainly are a joy to watch. I’ve had 2 Liverpool supporting mates both text me WOW.
They both think we look like serious title challengers. Well only time will tell and if we are still 2 points from top spot after those next 6 or so games I might start to believe my self.
Personally I think a top 4 finish will do nicely for starters.
A joy to watch though, no matter what.
Wonder who Riley will give us for Palace
I have always known Yahoo Sports to be anti Arsenal but I never believed it could be this bad. Nothing whatsoever on their homepage about Arsenal’s match tonight. That’s really terrible.
I think one of Anthony or Dean marky b
Noone has mentioned Leno’s excellent form, Ozil’s masterclass in football and Iwobi’s dynamism, as well as Emery’s superb sense of substitutions. The goals were sublime today and despite our obvious defensive slip ups, which I know Emery is trying to address, we turned on the engine in the 2nd half and ran Leicester down. I am not concerned about our current form against top 6 teams…..we play better when we meet better teams. I am concerned about the following;
1) Major injuries to key players…..a given where Arsenal are concerned,
2) PGMOL incompetence and ¨inventiveness¨ when we start winning and being serious challengers,
3) Ramsey’s effect on his teammates…..his contract situation is becoming ridiculous.
the game of joy to its funs has just started.
The selective blindness of the PGMOL officials is quite shameful. Lacazette was fouled repeatedly & nothing was given. The pundits ignored the fouls too. The foul on Miki by Evans was a card that was not given because of the goal scored immediately after. It is no reason to not give the card.
Despite the handicaps Arsenal has to cope with, the style rises to the occasion and our streak continues.
Brilliant Walter. Couldn’t stay awake last night to read it when I got home from the game, but reading it this morning is like being there again.
What a night!
Walter was the ref in error not calling the handball on Holding?
Looked like he could just have easily have called a foul on Holding if he felt like it, or for the other challenge on an arsenal defender just before the ball came to Holding.
Overall one of the better officials that we’ve seen this season from the PGMO? That was my impression. Not at the match but am guessing that he wasn’t heckled by large sections of the crowd for literally being unfit as we all saw and heard (except for the plundits and PGMO fanboys) earlier this season.
Wonder if we’ll see him again this season, this ref who is not popular with LCFC, if so more then once?
Same from me Walter …
Would you give a penalty for that … if you look, both players jump for the ball, both have their hands up, but the impact of the Leicester player is what causes Holding’s hand to make contact with the ball … can you call this DELIBERATE ??? Jumping high involves raising the arms, but is that enough for the penalty ?
Interesting non-call on the handball. Clearly Holding’s hand was knocked into the path of the ball. On the other hand, his arm was not in a natural position. I think the referee just missed it. Hard to believe that he wouldn’t have called it had he seen it.
It beggars belief that Foxes were whingeing about not getting a penalty; short memories.
Now, how can pigmol put a stop to our wonderful football? Naija – good guesses, fat Moss maybe also.
Finsbury
Have to say that in my opinion you are correct about the penalty issue. It
should have been called foul on Holding. The opponent clearly had his arm across Holdings throat. A foul in any language.
Holding’s arm was headed, not the ball. I think the referee accidentally made the correct call.
Despite the convincing win, I wasn’t impressed by the refereeing. Kavanagh seemed to be happy dishing out yellow cards to Arsenal players in the first half, whilst letting Leicester players get away with persistent offending. Ricardo, in particular, needed little encouragement to take advantage of this situation.
My view of the handball was that Holding’s arm was headed by the Leicester player, which caused it to hit the ball. The commentators here in Vancouver kept going on about an obvious hand ball, however one of the half time analysts saw it the same as me. When they showed a replay you can see that the ref had a clear view. I think he interpreted the incident as the arm being headed onto the ball. Hence no penalty. Wouldn’t it save a lot of time and discussion if the refs could talk about things after the game! It seems that the PGMO do not want any hint that refs make mistakes being made public. If only they would come up with something to make the refs almost impossible job a little easier. Who said VAR?