Arsenal 4 – Leicester City 2 match report: as expected, right?

And breathe. Arsenal downed Leicester City 4-2 in a totally straightforward, pedestrian match of football. Not (are people still doing “not” anymore?). It was one of the stranger matches of football you’ll see, but in the end, the only thing that matters is that the Gunners claimed full points. This bunch has a stubborn, resilient, tough streak that previous Arsenal teams were relentlessly criticized for lacking.

The Gunners were 2-0 up at halftime and looked like they would cruise to a blowout win. The entire first half was spent in and around the Leicester City box. The Foxes scored two incredibly fortunate goals to even the match and their keeper had an incredible second half to keep Arsenal out again and again. Arsenal scored two slop goals well into second half added time to claim a deserved victory.

Sidenote: why do relegation fodder keepers insist on having the best game of their season at the Emirates?

My initial reaction was that it was completely unacceptable for Arsenal to give away a 2-0 lead at home. Upon reflection, I think that was harsh. Leicester City scored two incredibly fortunate goals — one from a wicked deflection and one on an absolute worldie volley from James Justin. The shot for the second goal gets on frame maybe 1 out of every 100 times someone attempts it, let alone curls off the inside of the far post and into the net. It was an incredible piece of skill and an incredibly unlikely one to successfully pull off.

The exact numbers will vary based on where you look, but Arsenal created more than 4 expected goals, while Leicester barely generated more than 0.25 xG. Arsenal earned 17 corners to Leicester’s 0. The Gunners completely dominated the game and dropping points would have been an extremely, unlucky outcome. Some counts had Arsenal at 4.98 xG, which is the highest in club history since the stat started being tracked in 2010-11 and the 4th-highest overall.

It was particularly satisfying to watch William Saliba punk Jamie Vardy again and again. That man has caused Arsenal so much grief and heartache through the years that I don’t really care that, when you boil it down, it was a 23-year old CB, one of the best in the world, physically dominating a 37-year old striker.

Gabriel Martinelli, who has been the target of criticism for his lack of output, scored his first goal in 17 matches and picked up an assist on Leandro Trossard’s goal in the first half. Martinelli was arguably Arsenal’s most dangerous attacker on the day, which is a feather in the cap of those (like me) who were saying that it would turn around for him. He was getting the chances, they just weren’t going in for him and his teammates off his passes. Martinelli’s finish was a nice one, too. He was falling away from goal and steered it into the far corner. Leandro Trossard did the same thing to the other corner on his goal. Two difficult, high-quality finishes. Trossard started the match rather quietly — I hardly noticed him in the opening 15-20 minutes — but had an excellent game beyond that.

It’s not surprising that the Arsenal attack looked better with Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber playing fullback. They’re both quality players and skilled on the ball. Calafiori did his best Oleksandr Zinchenko impression, inverting into the middle and helping progress the ball. Calafiori’s presence helped Declan Rice to one of his best attacking games, which in turn, helped Gabriel Martinelli. On the other side, Jurrien Timber overlapped like Ben White but probably added a bit more on the interior than White does, which is important in Martin Ødegaard’s absence. Bukayo Saka’s disguised pass to Timber on the first goal was Ødegaard-esque.

Thomas Partey had a solid 50-55 minutes, but once again, looked completely gassed after that. The second Leicester goal came in part because he looked like he was running in quicksand trying to cover the middle of the pitch in transition. It seems as if Mikel Arteta is determined to play Partey, however. We’ll see what happens once Mikel Merino is fit and integrated (and Martin Ødegaard is back), but I’m not sure Arteta is going to be able to quit his Partey habit. I’d settle for him recognizing that Partey only has 50-60 minutes in the tank and subbing him off before his legs go.

Personally, I think Arsenal might be better off playing Declan Rice at #6 and Ethan Nwaneri at #8 in the short term. The 17-year old came on with about 5 minutes remaining in regular time and made an immediate impact. He beat two players off the wing, dribbled across the top of the box, and forced a really good save at the bottom corner. He was positively involved several more times in his short appearance.

Football is a funny game. Arsenal created chance after chance to retake the lead only to be denied by Mads Hermansen standing on his head. It looked for certain that the familiar story of a keeper having a blinder was once again going to play out at the Emirates. Any one of the chances would have been a deserving winning goal, but the actual winner was an own-goal from a corner. As Arsenal often do, they created chaos from a set piece, the ball was put back into the middle from the back post, and the ball found it’s way in off Wilf Ndidi, with Leandro Trossard last to touch for the Gunners. Kai Havertz bundled home a fourth goal just before the final whistle after another Hermansen save off a good carry and shot from Gabriel Jesus. The goal needed VAR to count. It was initially flagged for offside, but the Leicester City defender kicked it to Havertz, who would have been offside had the touch come from a teammate.

Today in referee-watch: some will try to tell you that Arsenal were fortunate that Riccardo Calafiori stayed on the pitch after tripping Facundo Buonanotte in the second half, who was carded for asking for the 2nd yellow card. Overall, I’d say it was fair the Arsenal defender stayed on the pitch. The first yellow card was arguably not even a foul, and he tried to pull out of the trip. It would have been harsh to send him off. But the referee certainly could have sent Calafiori off.

It would have been particularly harsh given that Oliver Skipp was not cautioned for coming in studs up on Gabriel Martinelli in the first half, then kicking the ball away well after the whistle. Nor was he cautioned for stamping on Bukayo Saka’s foot in the second half (on a play where the referee inexplicably signaled advantage when a central free kick would have been a much better outcome for the Gunners). Skipp was cautioned for a shirt tug, however.

Oh and Wilf Ndidi, on a yellow card, kicked the ball away to delay a restart. He wasn’t booked and sent off for it. At some point, I may stop pointing things like this out, but we’re still far too close to Arsenal dropping four points from having players sent off in two separate matches for delaying the restart. That it happens again and again is a clear indicator that the referees do, in fact, have a choice in whether they book players for delay and that, so far, the rule has not been enforced evenly and across the board.

It was a strangely refereed game. Not biased either way, just bad. Such is life in the Premier League. Thank goodness it came in an Arsenal win.

Premier League life will test you, and Arsenal were definitely tested today. It should have been an easy win. Mikel Arteta summed it up perfectly, “I think we were unbelievable today. We deserved to win with many more goals. We suffered more than we should have but this is football. Really happy with the team.”

That’s why you go and score four goals. So that the weirdness, be it lucky goals for the opponent, the finishing running cold, a hot goalkeeper, and / or referee decisions don’t cost you points. Although the timing of the Arsenal goals undermines the point a bit. Regardless, if you heavily outplay your opponent and create plenty of chances in doing so, you’re much more likely to overcome bad variance.

I don’t really care how the wins come for Arsenal with Martin Ødegaard out, honestly. As Al Davis said, just win baby.

The only disappointing part is that Arsenal should have been well clear of Leicester and resting players ahead of PSG at the Emirates in the Champions League on Tuesday instead of battling for an added time win. Football, eh?