Leicester vs Arsenal prediction: Wounded Gunners should be too strong for Foxes

Arsenal travel to Leicester City in Saturday’s early kick-off, fresh from a warm-weather training camp in Dubai (12:30pm, TNT Sports and Discovery+ app).

The only good thing about being knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United was the free weekend, which allowed for a short getaway, following their Carabao Cup defeat at the hands of Newcastle United.

But it didn’t all go well as Kai Havertz returned home after sustaining a hamstring injury, which will keep him out for the rest of the season.

The Gunners are now really short of options in attack with Gabriel Jesus also out for the season with a knee injury and Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli also out.

Saka has had surgery on a hamstring injury sustained in December and there is no date on his return yet while Martinelli injured his hamstring in the Carabao Cup defeat at Newcastle and is expected to be out for “more than a month”.

The Gunners go into the game seven points behind league leaders Liverpool, but it could have been so much worse for Mikel Arteta’s side had it not been for an injury-time goal from Everton skipper James Tarkowski to earn the Blues a draw in Wednesday’s Merseyside derby.

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side have lost eight of their last nine matches to leave them third from bottom of the Premier League table, 33 points behind Arsenal and two points from safety.

Betting sites make them no bigger than 2/7 to be relegated, while they are 9/1 to finish bottom of the table.

After securing a 3-1 win in his first game in charge, the Dutchman has picked up just four points from their last 10 games, leaving them in a worse position than when Steve Cooper was sacked in November.

Their only league win since the beginning of December came against Tottenham at the end of January, when Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss were both on the scoresheet as Leicester came from a goal down to secure a 2-1 win in north London.

Football betting sites are all backing Arsenal for the win at 31/100, while Leicester are 21/2 for the win and you can get 24/5 on a draw which is a more common result than a Foxes win.

It’s hard to see how Leicester will be able to take anything from Saturday’s game, against an Arsenal side whose last league defeat came back on 2 November, when they were beaten 1-0 by Newcastle at St James’ Park.

The Foxes have lost their last six Premier League games against Arsenal, after winning four of the previous six. The last two matches at Arsenal have been won 4-2 by the home side, while Leicester have failed to score in their last two home matches, with the Gunners winning 1-0 and 2-0.

They have also lost their last four Premier League home games without scoring – only Sheffield Wednesday in 1919-20, Birmingham City in 1921-22 and Norwich City in 2019-20 have ever lost five in a row on home turf without scoring in the same top-flight campaign.

Arsenal fans might not want to hear this one but the Gunners, who are unbeaten in their last 14 league games, haven’t gone longer without defeat since between December 2010 and April 2011 under Arsene Wenger, when they went 16 games unbeaten.

Arteta’s side might be missing key attacking players but up against a side with the second-worst defensive record, who have conceded 53 goals in 24 games, they should still have more than enough.

Leicester have failed to score in four successive home games and you can boost the odds on an Arsenal win by backing an away victory to nil on betting apps.

Leicester vs Arsenal prediction: Arsenal to win to nil - 23/20 BetVictor

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