By Bulldog Drummond
It is not just us – injuries are everywhere. It is as if the Doctors Union have suddenly said, “let them have it” and now they have it. Here is the table of the number of players out for each club, and it is quite different from those we have published so far this season…
- Brentford: 8
- Chelsea: 7
- Leeds United: 6
- Liverpool: 6
- Norwich City: 6
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: 6
- Watford: 6
- Arsenal: 5
- Everton: 5
- Leicester City: 5
- Aston Villa: 4
- Brighton and Hove: 4
- Manchester United: 4
- Newcastle Arabia: 4
- Southampton: 4
- Manchester City: 3
- Burnley: 2
- Crystal Palace: 2
- Tottenham Hotspur: 2
- West Ham United: 1
Here are the details from Premier Injuries
| Player | Reason | Further Detail | Potential Return | Condition | Status |
| Granit Xhaka | Knee Injury | Oct 14: “I’m sure that if you tell him three [months], he will be thinking two [months]. He will be trying to do extra work to try to minimise that time, that’s for sure.” | 26/12/2021 | None | Ruled Out |
| Kieran Tierney | Ankle/Foot Injury | Oct 29: “Kieran is progressing in training. Let’s see again how he is today. He felt a little bit better, but he wasn’t 100% to start the other day. We’ll see what happens.” | 30/10/2021 | Late Fitness Test | 50% |
| Pablo Mari Villar | Other | Illness (probably the same as White and Odegaard below) | 30/10/2021 | Late Fitness Test | 50% |
| Ben White | A bug | Oct 26: “There’s a bug going around. Ben had it for the last day or two. He wasn’t feeling great so we decided to take him off.” | 30/10/2021 | Late Fitness Test | 50% |
| Martin Odegaard | A bug | Oct 26: “Tried yesterday but didn’t feel great. Hopefully, in the next few days [he] can feel better and be available for Leicester.” | 30/10/2021 | Late Fitness Test | 75% |
Leicester have only won 23% of the games between the two clubs, and a lot of their victories came in the early days of football – mostly in the 19th century. Indeed if we look at the first 16 games between the two sides between January 1895 and January 1920 Arsenal won just four (25%). Nine games were Leicester victories (56%) and the remaining 19% were draws.
Of the next 43 games Leicester won just three, and suffered some humiliating defeats. Mind you so did Arsenal on two occasions. Here are details of some of the more outrageous scores from an Arsenal perspective – for once this list is not in date order but by the number of goals the winning team scored.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Oct 1932 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 8-2 | League Division One |
| 26 Oct 1903 | Woolwich Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 8-0 | League Division Two |
| 15 Dec 1934 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 8-0 | League Division One |
| 31 Aug 1963 | Leicester City v Arsenal | L | 7-2 | League Division One |
| 21 Apr 1930 | Leicester City v Arsenal | D | 6-6 | League Division One |
| 13 Feb 1897 | Leicester Fosse v Woolwich Arsenal | L | 6-3 | League Division Two |
| 26 Dec 2000 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 6-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Dec 1914 | Arsenal v Leicester Fosse | W | 6-0 | League Division Two |
But of late things have not been so good…
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 May 2018 | Leicester City v Arsenal | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 22 Oct 2018 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 28 Apr 2019 | Leicester City v Arsenal | L | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 9 Nov 2019 | Leicester City v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 7 Jul 2020 | Arsenal v Leicester City | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 23 Sep 2020 | Leicester City v Arsenal | W | 0-2 | League Cup |
| 25 Oct 2020 | Arsenal v Leicester City | L | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 28 Feb 2021 | Leicester City v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
So in the last eight games we have won just three against them (although two have been at their place) and drawn one. The other four have been lost. We have scored ten goals, they have got twelve.
But whereas we have won six and drawn two in the last eight games we have played they have won five drawn two lost one.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Sep 2021 | Millwall v Leicester City | W | 0-2 | League Cup |
| 25 Sep 2021 | Leicester City v Burnley | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 30 Sep 2021 | Legia Warszawa v Leicester City | L | 1-0 | Europa League |
| 3 Oct 2021 | Crystal Palace v Leicester City | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 16 Oct 2021 | Leicester City v Manchester United | W | 4-2 | Premier League |
| 20 Oct 2021 | Spartak Moscow v Leicester City | W | 3-4 | Europa League |
| 24 Oct 2021 | Brentford v Leicester City | W | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 27 Oct 2021 | Leicester City v Brighton and Hove | W | 2-2 (4-2) | League Cup |
I’ll be happy with a draw from this one and delighted if we win.
- Leicester City v Arsenal: what new trick have Leicester got waiting for us this time?
- Leicester City v Arsenal: the very weird and surprising facts
- The major benefit for Arsenal that arises from not being in Europe
- Tackles, fouls and cards for the big clubs: Arsenal surviving, but Man U’s plan failing
