TCF had no hope for anything this evening, and when the line-up was announced it was complete darkness and all hope out. Playing a team without Tielemans and Ndidi against Arsenal away makes you heavily weakened, and you just hoped to get away alive.
Arsenal were in command and dominated as we had predicted, but we did see a few attempts from the Leicester side, but in all, just a tragic display.
When you field a midfield area in the way Brendan Rodgers did today and with Partey and Xhaka tearing apart everything with their great presence and quality defensively Leicester were like mice.
It was back to heavy mistakes and after just 11 minutes Thomas Partey jumped out every Leicester player and his header went into the net, Arsenal were in the lead and never looked back.
Leicester did get some type of momentum in the latter stages of first half and a header from Harvey Barnes was fantastically saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
Embed from Getty ImagesArsenal came out 2nd half and had the advantage from start, with a number of chances created and again Leicester could just trust on Kasper Schmeichel as he saved a number of unsavables.
Tragis to watch and no real pssibility and again playing the ball out wide and in again without any momentum. Kelechi Iheanacho got the chance to play from start, also giving a strange start to Nampalys Mendy and throwing them both to the wolves. .
The formation and the unity between players were not to see and when Caglar Soyuncu put his hand in the air and touched the ball, Alexandre Lacazette had no problems converting from the penalty spot after 59 minutes.
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester made changes but bringing on James Justin and Wilfred Ndidi was probably not massive moves as they both came in to replace other defensive options.
This was 90 minutes pluss to forget and a terrible performance from a team that lacked quality to be able to have some chance against an Arsenal team in form, tragic really to watch such a toothless performance.
No Youri Tielemans today and hopefully he is back for the return game vs. Rennes on Thursday.
- Positives
- Kasper Schmeichel doing a grand job in goal
- Giving game time to Kelechi Iheanacho and Nampalys Mendy
- More Possession than Arsenal, but with little or no penetration
- Negatives:
- No momentum and overrun in midfield
- Youri Tielemans, Jonny Evans and Jamie Vardy were missed today
- Caglar Soyuncu losing concentration and putting his hand on the ball
- Brendan Rodgers must have thought the game was lost before it started
Player Ratings: Schmeichel 7, Pereira 5, Amartey 5, Soyuncu 4, Thomas 4, Mendy 4, Maddison 4, Dewsbury-Hall 5, Iheanacho 4, Barnes 6, Albrighton 5 Subs: Justin, Ndidi, Daka
Embed from Getty Images- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Kasper Schmeichel
Match Stats (H/A):
- Possession: 46 / 54
- Corners: 2 / 6
- Shots on target: 8 / 3
- Fouls: 8 / 10
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