Leicester City vs Arsenal – Match Preview and team news

The Football Faithful

·15 February 2025

Leicester City vs Arsenal – Match Preview and team news

Leicester City welcome Arsenal to the King Power Stadium in Saturday’s Premier League lunchtime kick-off.

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Foxes were controversially knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United last Friday.

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Jannik Vestergaard, Jamie Vardy and Victor Kristiansen have managed to shake off the kncoks that prevented them for featuring at Old Trafford.

Abdul Fatawu, Ricardo Pereira and Odsonne Edouard are still in different stages of recovery from their respective injuries.

Mikel Arteta and his players jetted off to Dubai for a warm weather camp over the last week as their schedule was cleared by their FA Cup exit.

However, Kai Havertz didn’t benefit from the change of scenery and the German unfortunately ended up suffering a season-ending injury.

The German sustained a torn hamstring which requires surgery and Havertz will now be aiming to return in time for pre-season. That leaves Arsenal’s attacking options extremely limited with Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli also out.

There was some positive news for Arteta to report regarding Ben White who may be ready to feature after a lengthy spell out.

Leicester City vs Arsenal – Match Preview and team news

Form

Leicester: LLWLL

Despite a spirited performance against Manchester United, Leicester were cruelly knocked out of the FA Cup in the dying embers.

The Foxes rightfully felt aggrieved after the winner was controversially allowed to stand. Former Leicester defender Harry Maguire appeared to be in an offside position leading up to his header past Mads Hermansen.

However, with VAR not in operation until the fifth round of the prestigious competition, technology wasn’t in place to intervene.

Ruud van Nistelrooy and his players will now turn their attention back to their league predicament.

Last season’s Championship winners face the prospect of relegation as they currently sit just inside the bottom three. Only two points separate them and safety with 14 games left to play.

In recent history they have struggled against Arsenal and have lost each of the last six encounters with the North London club.

Arsenal: WWWWL

The Gunners have had 10 days to regroup after they were eliminated at the semi-final stage of the Carabao Cup to Newcastle.

It was a torrid display from Arsenal and goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon resulted in a 4-0 aggregate defeat.

However last time out in the Premier League, the North Londoners made a statement with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Manchester City.

It was a second-half to remember from Mikel Arteta’s side who put the game beyond their opposition in style.

With Liverpool drawing their game in hand during midweek against Everton, there is now a seven-point gap between Arsenal and the league leaders.

Last Meeting: Arsenal 4-2 Leicester, Premier League, 28th September 2024

It was a dramatic ending in the last encounter as two stoppage-time goals saw Arsenal claim the victory.

It was a fairly routine start to the afternoon’s proceedings. Despite being off balanced, Gabriel Martinelli managed to divert Jurrien Timber’s cut-back past the flat-footed Mads Hermansen to open the scoring.

The hosts doubled the advantage in similar fashion in the dying embers of the first period. The goal scorer turned provider for Leandro Trossard who ruthlessly found the bottom corner.

The result looked to be heading in only one direction until Leicester mounted an unlikely comeback.

Even more surprisingly, full-back James Justin was the talisman behind the second-half resurgence.

Justin halved the deficit moments after the restart with a clever header that deflected off Kai Havertz and evaded David Raya.

There was no slice of fortune about his second as he equalised with a goal exuding technical elegance.

Wilfred Ndidi’s hopeful cross found the Englishman who gorgeously volleyed the ball into the back of the net after clipping the post.

Despite the resilience from the visitors, their efforts would end up being in vain.

In the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, Ndidi inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net. An Arsenal corner had wreaked havoc amongst the Foxes defence and the Nigerian couldn’t sort his feet out in time to clear Trossard’s attempt.

Leicester searched for parity once more but were punished with seconds remaining. A fast break from the hosts saw Gabriel Jesus’ shot be parried into Justin, whose clearance ricocheted off Kai Havertz and over the line. The German was initially penalised for offside but after consulting VAR the fourth goal was awarded.

A cruel ending for the Foxes but an important triumph for the Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

Predicted Line-ups

Leicester: Hermansen, Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen; Ndidi, Soumare; Ayew, El Khannouss, Mavididi, Vardy

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Partey, Rice; Nwaneri, Odegaard, Trossard, Sterling

Who is the referee?

Sam Barrott will be the match official. Tim Wood and Wade Smith will assist him and Oliver Langford will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Paul Tierney and he will be assisted by Natalie Aspinall.