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[Preview] Arsenal vs Leicester | 4 players ruled out, line-up + score prediction

By on October 25, 2020
Thomas partey

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Arsenal are back in Premier League action when we take on Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium this evening.

We were pretty poor on Thursday night and Mikel Arteta needed to bring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang off the bench to secure a 2-1 comeback victory over Rapid Vienna in our opening group game in the Europa League.

Obviously it was good to get off to a winning start in Europe, especially away from home, but we lacked creativity going forward once again and this recurring theme is becoming a bit of a concern.  We look more solid in defence, so sorting out our lacklustre attack should be Arteta’s priority from now on.

Arsenal enjoyed a solid start to the new Premier League season but two defeats in our last three games have dented progress so we need to get back to winning ways at the Emirates today – especially as Leicester will be one of our top 4 rivals.

Brendan Rodgers has built a very good team at Leicester and they will give us a real game this evening so Arsenal are going to have to be on top form if we want to secure all three points.

Team news

Arsenal will welcome Dani Ceballos back into the squad after he recovered from a bruised ankle while Willian may also return after missing the trip to Austria in midweek with a calf issue.

However, Rob Holding has been ruled out for three weeks with a hamstring strain so he’s unavailable along with Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari and Gabriel Martinelli so Arteta will be without at least four players.

As for Leicester, Jamie Vardy is expected to return just in time to get his usual goal against Arsenal but they’ll be without Ricardo Pereira, Wilfred Ndidi, Caglar Soyuncu and Daniel Amartey for the game.

Preferred line-up

I hope we see Kieran Tierney recalled to start alongside Gabriel and David Luiz while Thomas Partey should make his full home debut after impressing against Rapid Vienna. Ainsley Maitland-Niles may get a run-out on the left but I’d stick with Bukayo Saka.

This is the team I hope we see tonight:

football formations

Likely Leicester XI: Schmeichel, Justin, Evans, Fofana, Castagne, Tielemans, Mendy, Barnes, Maddison, Praet, Vardy

Predicted score

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 27 home games against Leicester in all competitions and haven’t lost to anyone at the Emirates in our last 11 games so we should be confident heading into the match tonight.

The Foxes won in the Europa League in midweek but have lost their last two Premier League games against Aston Villa and West Ham so this may be a good time to be playing them.

Vardy will no doubt get his goal like he always does against us [10 goals in 10 games against Arsenal] but hopefully we can grind out a win and show some intent going forward tonight. I’m predicting a narrow win.

Arsenal 2-1 Leicester

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