Arsenal (2.94) 2 - 0 (0.55) Leicester
Make it 5 on the spin! What a run over these last 11 matches:
9 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss.
25 GF / 7 GA
28/33 points
We started on the front foot yet again and found an early lead via none other than Thomas Partey. Coming off of a corner kick from Gabriel Martinelli, Leicester gave me flashbacks to what we looked like not too long ago when Mustafi-Sokratis-Luiz ran the backline and we conceded ~50% of our goals from set pieces. Scary times. Partey was able to get on the ball at the near post where four Leicester players were in the vicinity and notched the header past Schmeichel. One of these days we are destined to see the Partey rocket everyone at the Emirates is calling out for. We came very close not long after his first when he caught the ball cleanly outside the eighteen only to find the corner post.
A few more chances followed later on, but I kinda felt we were just lacking the lethality we have shown in other matches this season. Leicester really grew into the game in the latter stages of the first half and if it weren't for Rambo bailing us out in typical Rambo fashion we could have easily been having a different convo come the halftime whistle. Coverage cut to show Rodgers' reaction to the save and he gave it an emphatic "Wow!" and a very adamant eyebrow raise...to be fair, it probably should have been 1-1. Ben White came up with a fantastic tackle right on the edge of halftime to deny Maddison a clear shot on target, one in which if he got wrong surely would have been a pen. Too early to start questioning if Ben White is the English Maldini? Certainly playing better than Maguire or Mings, so let's see if he gets the deserved call up later this month.
Once we got to half I thought we were going to be able to reset a bit and get back to dominating the game, which we did. The dagger came via a penalty, which was given by VAR - that is right, you read that correctly... GIVEN via VAR...to Arsenal. Now we won't talk too much about how long it took them to check, even though the defender clearly touched the ball and the ball changed direction (I don't care however so slight, movement is movement), but this allowed the player who probably needed a goal the most to step up. Our captain, Lacazette, has never gone 10 games without a goal for us and he was not about to start the trend now. A cheeky run up had Schmeichel in shambles and well off his line, but it did not matter as Laca dispatched the pen into the top of the net and got us to 2-0.
For someone seemingly short of confidence in front of goal, Laca truly needed that. I don't care it came way of a penalty and hopefully neither does he. It was his first in nearly 3 months, but gets his totals up to 3G + 7A over the 11 game stretch as mentioned before. Fingers crossed this gets the burden off his back and he can start finding the back of the net on a consistent basis as we close out this campaign.
Overall I thought we played well. Nothing crazy in terms of an all out attack launched on Leicester's net, but really not making mistakes along the way either. A lot of this was down to Ødegaard who has been nothing short of class recently. The way he operates on both sides of the ball seems to really be what makes this team click. With him and Partey both putting in world class shifts every time they step onto the pitch, we are going to be tough opposition to beat. Everyone in the squad seems to be enjoying themselves and in return, us as supporters, get to enjoy the football because of that. It has been some time where confidence and mouth watering football were of abundance and it seems the good days are here to stay.
Last thing to note. Arteta was quite vocal of the defending after Watford, and rightfully so, but I thought it was a good response from the boys today. They seemed up for it and we got the clean sheet at the end of it. I think this just goes to show the mentality Mikel Arteta is instilling into this young squad - one who is not afraid of the challenge and does not back down to adversity.
BIG, big game this Wednesday evening. Liverpool at home. Maybe I am getting caught up in everything, but I am feeling confident ahead of it. Not saying we will go out and thrash them, but rather I think we can get something out of it. Whatever happens, we have come a long way and we are only going to get better. Back the boys and let us push on for top 4. Until then, come on you Gunners!
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