Leicester 0, Arsenal 2, positives and negatives, player ratings, and match report

Brendan Rodgers fielded a team with players that so far have had limited chances to play in the PL games and it was no surprises in the line-up really, good to see James Maddison back from start as he got vital minutes to get back to full fitness.

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Arsenal did also field a team with fringe players, but they have a good and competitive squad, so this was a team that would be difficult to defeat as Leicester City surely experienced. First half was dominated by Arsenal but Leicester City did have a number of great chances and could have taken the lead with a great attempt from James Maddison, but unfortunately the ball hit the post.

Brendan Rodgers had changed his entire midfield with Hamza Choudhry, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and James Maddison playing in a pyramid with two defensive and one offensive midfielder, and it worked ok, probably not pace up front as Marc Albrighton did appear in midfield and not as a third option up front, with Demarai Gray covering the other flank.

Leicester City came out second half with a positive attitude, but it was Arsenal again who ran the show with better controll and passing and early on Christian Fuchs was unlucky and scored an own goal, Arsenal was 1-0 up after 56 minutes. A bit later Arsenal was again close with an attempt saved by Wes Morgan in a miraculous way, heading the ball of the goal line,

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Brendan Rodgers replaced James Maddison with Dennis Praet and also took of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and put on Ayoze Perez, strangely not using his third sub with Harvey Barnes on the bench, not really understanding why on earth he didn’t use that card.

Leicester City had some sort of a soft push to try to score, but instead in the final minute of the game Arsenal scored a sloppy goal after totally hopeless defending, letting Nketiah just take the ball and push it over the line, bad work from goalkeeper Danny Ward as well, who could have just picked up the ball.

A dull and uninspired game by Leicester City and again we just waited for something to happen, which it didn’t, and cannot figure out either Kelechi Iheanacho or Demarai Gray, who both again was not really part of the game in the 2nd half, fading out.

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Leicester City who have in the previous seasons had good runs in the EFL Cup, will not have to consentrate on their Premier League form and also hope to do their best in Europe and maybe a blessing in disguise as it will still be many games to play.

Positives
- Giving another group of players a chance to get minutes of action
- Wes Morgan showing he can still cope with this level
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the starting line-up
- James Maddison showing his quality and was close to score
Negatives:
- Bad defending and goalkeeping in vital situations, letting in sloppy goals
- Brendan Rodgers not fielding all of his subs, and keeping a game changer like Barnes on the bench
- Out of a competition that could have given a number of fringe players more game time

Player Ratings: Ward 4, Amartey 5, Fuchs 4, Morgan 6, Dewsbury-Hall 6, Choudhury 5, Maddison 6, Albrighton 5, Iheanacho 4, Gray 5, Perez 6 Subs: Praet, Perez

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