Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy gave start to Caleb Okoli leaving Jannik Vestergaard on the bench. Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid were also in the line-up instead of Stephy Mavididi and Facundo Bounanotte, as this has been main topics of fans discussions.
Leicester made it difficult for Arsenal in the first half, and also having a few attempts themselves to score, Wilfred Ndidi doing his most to build a good momentum.
But it was Arsenal who pushed for a goal, having majority possession, as Leicester kept their defensive line and structure to a good level, and as we did see the first half progress, it was nice to see Leicester going in to half time with a 0-0 result. James Justin had to leave the field in the latter minutes of first half, giving an opening for Woyo Coulibaly as he came on.
Early on second half, Jordan Ayew came close with a cross into the penalty area, but no Leicester player got to it as Arsenal cleared it to a corner. But as we all know against top teams you need to score on the few open attempts you create, if not, during the game the superior opposition will punish you.
Arsenal had just one goal in this game, to score and come home with three points. That also could have opened up space and given Leicester more chances to score, but it was not enough quality in the attempts created.
Gave it everything.#LEIARS pic.twitter.com/1HLgogtGPe
— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 15, 2025
Ruud van Nistelrooy decided to do more changes to the team in the 75th minute, taking off Jordan Ayew and put on Stephy Mavididi, as the team got a more attacking style, as it became a more offensive approach, and a message saying Leicester were going for goals, instead of trying to win a point, potentially giving minutes to a more defensive player.
Realism striked just minutes later, as Arsenal made the most out of a great build up, with their sub Mikel Merino scoring from a well place header as Victor Kristiansen never managed to stop the crosser as his defensive work was far from what is needed to block the ball. Wout Faes and Caleb Okoli made it sure that their partnership is a fragile one, as a rotation with Coady and Vestergaard has been part of the Ruud van Nistelrooy decision making.
Patson Daka and Facundo Bounanotte came on in the 85th minute, as a desperate decision hoped for something to happen with a positive outfall, but instead Mikel Merino made the most of this push and instead scored with a great final finish.
Arsenal was one difficult opponent, but in all this looks far from satisfactory with 9 losses in the last 10 Premier League games. Next up is Brentford at home, hopefully Leicester can find a winning formula for this one.
- Positives
- Fighting spirit and keeping Arsenal quiet for a long period of time
- Wilfred Ndidi again influential and hopefully getting better day by day
- Negatives
- Not enough quality in the team to have a chance against a superior Arsenal
- James Justin potentially out injured for a period
- Not really trying to get one point, having an offensive approach in subsitutions
- 9 defeats in the last 10 PL games
- Not really having the “Arsenal” to get the positives needed with substitutions
Player Ratings: Hermansen 6, Justin 6, Kristiansen 5, Faes 5, Okoli 6, Ndidi 7, El Khannouss 6, Vardy 5, Soumare 5, Ayew 6, De Cordova-Reid 5 Subs: Coulibaly 5, Bounanotte, Daka, Mavididi
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Wilfred Ndidi
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 40 / 60
- Shots on Target: 2 / 5
- Corners: 3 / 7
- Fouls: 9 / 10
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