A needs must team selection with Mesut and Nacho ‘injured’.

First Half

A few good saves from Leno and one over the bar from Steptoe.

from Arsenal twitter

A difficult chance for Laca and a much easier one for Iwobi were our only decent chances.

The sending off was ridiculous. Sent off for two nothing challenges, the second a blatant case of Maddison attempting to get a fellow professional sent off. Rolling around clutching his shin when there was no contact on his shin whatsoever. A fine player but a cheat. He should be ashamed. Michael Oliver gave us nothing in that first half apart from a good shafting.

It seems even more of a waste of time watching football if your team is playing poorly, when the ref is allowed to ruin a game to such an extent. Pathetic.

Second Half

Our best ten minutes of the match followed halftime but a headed goal by Tielemans made it 1-0 soon after.

Leno made a series of decent saves as Arsenal’s ten men struggled in adversity.

All hope of a sneaked equaliser disappeared when Vardy bounced one in after it came back to him off the bar. Didn’t see the third as I’d started this.

Conclusion

Leicester were the better side but in the context of our poor away form, playing 10 men against 12 was an impossible task.

The turning point in the game was Oliver wanting to take centre stage. After that it was game over.

On a personal level, I wish Arsenal’s season was over right now. With a Europa semi-final coming up on Thursday, that is ridiculous way to feel. I just wish the crushing disappointment was over and done with. Then again, I’m sure I’ll feel different come Thursday evening. 🙂

Ratings

Leno – MOTM by a country mile … 9

Maitland-Niles – unlucky to be Oliver’s chosen target … 5

Sokratis – struggled with Steptoe’s pace, as Arsenal have consistently done in the past … 5

Mustafi – no glaring errors – brought in to give Kos a rest, I suppose, but Oliver put paid to that plan … 5

Kolasinac – not really a left back but didn’t disgrace himself … 5

Torreira – beaten black and blue with no protection – his early season partnership with Xhaka hasn’t really progressed … 5

Xhaka – often too slow to shift the ball and seems to think giving away stupid free kicks is part of his job … 5

Mkhitaryan – terrible in the first half – we needed someone to keep the ball and he didn’t – dispossessed far too easily always … 4

Iwobi – his left foot chance in the first half needed him to cut back on to his right as Schmeichel would have been left on the floor – not picking on him but he seems symptomatic of Arsenal’s away form – at home he’s great but away a bit of a luxury … 5

Aubameyang – neither him nor his strike partner hold the ball up, so it’s bound to keep coming back –  his commitment was ok though … 5

Lacazette – difficult chance in the first half, the rest was just hard work … 5

Subs

Kos – three at the back made a difference – we could have done with him rested for Thursday though … 6

Eddie – nearly had a chance to equalise – I bet he’s looking forward to being brought on when we’re two or three up for a change … 5

Managers

Emery – a bit like King Canute at the moment – that flippin tide keeps coming in … 5

Brendon Wagner – his team played well albeit helped by the man playing for Leicester in the black shirt … 6

Referee

Oliver – a complete disgrace – Mike Riley will probably recommend him for a knighthood after that corrupt performance … -1

chas

Formed in 1884 by a group of old boys of Wyggeston School as “Leicester Fosse”, the club joined The Football Association  in 1890. Before moving to Filbert Street in 1891, the club played at five different grounds, including Victoria Park south-east of the city centre and the Belgrave Road Cycle and Cricket Ground. In 1919, when League football resumed after World War I, Leicester Fosse ceased trading due to financial difficulties of which little is known. The club was reformed as “Leicester City Football Club”, particularly appropriate as the borough of Leicester had recently been given city status.

Courtesy of John Hutchinson

On 21st April 1930 Leicester drew 6-6 with Arsenal in the highest scoring draw ever recorded in the top flight. The following is an extract from a book by Paul Donnelley entitled ‘Firsts, Lasts & Onlys of Football: Presenting the most amazing football facts from the last 160 years’

Leicester City V Arsenal
At City Stadium, Filbert Street, Leicester, Easter Monday 21st April 1930

The highest-scoring draw in English football history at that time was a feast of goals watched by 27,241 fans towards the end of the 1929-1930 season and five days before the FA Cup Final (which Arsenal won). In a tactic that would be recognised today, Arsenal rested some players before the Final.

After just two minutes David Jack had the ball in the net, only for the referee to disallow his effort for offside. Arsenal scored first through David Halliday (in his only season in the Arsenal first team), but by half time Leicester were leading 3-1.

By the 62nd minute Arsenal were 5-3 to the good. With around 11 minutes left on the clock, Arsenal were leading 6-5 – all goals coming from Halliday (four) and Bastin (two) – and then Leicester equalised. Arsenal had two more chances in the final minutes, but could not convert them.

Despite his four goals, Halliday did not play in either the FA Cup Final or Arsenal’s last two League games and left the Club soon after.

Leicester City FC moved away from Filbert Street in 2002 to a new 32,500 all-seater stadium. The stadium was originally named The Walkers Stadium in a deal with food manufacturers Walkers. On 7 July 2011, Leicester City confirmed the Walkers Stadium would now be known as the King Power Stadium. In 2015 their vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha stated plans were in place to increase the capacity of the stadium to around 42,000.

The club’s home colours of royal blue shirts, white shorts, and either white or royal blue socks have been used for the team’s kits throughout most of its history. The first sponsorship logo to appear on a Leicester shirt was that of Ind Coope in 1983. British snack food manufacturer Walkers Crisps held a long association with the club, sponsoring them from 1987 to 2001.

The club have three main nicknames – The Foxes, The Blues and City. “The Foxes” is the most common nickname for the club, whereas “The Blues” and “City” are more local terms, usually used by supporters. Other names include “The Filberts” and “The Fossils”. An image of a fox was first incorporated into the club crest in 1948, as Leicestershire is known for foxes and fox hunting – this is the origin of the nickname “The Foxes”.

A previous version of the Leicester City FC crest with the more obvious fox-hunting symbolism

The club mascot is a character called “Filbert Fox”. There are also secondary characters “Vickie Vixen” and “Cousin Dennis.” Since 1992, the club’s badge has featured a fox’s head overlaid onto a Cinquefoil; the Cinquefoil is similar to the one used on the coat of arms of Leicester. Prior to 1992, the club’s badge had a range of designs. In the 2009–10 season, the club’s 125th anniversary year, the home kit featured no sponsor and a new central crest with “125 Years” written beneath it.

Leicester won the 2015–16 Premier League, their first top-level football championship. They are one of only six clubs to have won the Premier League since its inception in 1992. A number of newspapers described Leicester’s title win as the greatest sporting shock ever, considering at the start of the season they were favourites to face relegation. Multiple bookmakers had never paid out at such long odds for any sport. As a result, the team was dubbed “The Unbelievables”, a spin-off harking back to Arsenal’s undefeated team “The Invincibles”. The club’s previous highest ever finish was second place in the top flight, in 1928–29, then known as Division One.

The club hold the dubious record of having been defeated in the FA Cup Final on four occasions – in 1948–49, 1960–61, 1962–63 and 1968–69. This is a tournament record for the most defeats in the final without having won the competition.

Our away record –

Walcott slides the ball past Schmeichel in the 5-2 demolition of September 2015 during their title-winning season

Our away record against Leicester in the EPL has been favourable only losing twice in twelve visits, one of which was our last visit in May 9^th, 2018 when we lost 3-1.

GunnerN5