Arsenal 4 Leicester 3: Five things we learned as Olivier Giroud scores late winner in Premier League opener
Arsenal 4 Leicester 3: The 'best league in the world' was back with a bang on Friday night as Arsenal beat Leicester in a seven-goal thriller
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Your support makes all the difference.New season, same old Arsenal
Arsenal displayed some delightful, intricate build-up play at times but still clearly lack a ruthlessness that so many other teams at the top of this league possess.
The positive atmosphere at the Emirates, following Alexandre Lacazette’s early goal, soon turned to groans as Leicester levelled and then went ahead.
Had it not been for those late goals from super subs Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud then it could have really turned sour.
While he can point to injuries and suspensions for his side’s unconvincing showing tonight, it will be a long season for Arsene Wenger unless things quickly improve.
New season, same old Leicester…
It was a breathless start to the game at the Emirates as Lacazette’s opener was cancelled out almost immediately by Shinji Okazaki following some sloppy Arsenal defending.
Granit Xhaka, the man of the match in Arsenal’s Community Shield win over Chelsea last weekend, once again pulled the strings in midfield as the home side started to dominate possession in the first-half.
But as Leicester have shown so often in the last two years, they don’t really need possession to score goals and win games. A lightning counter, started down the left by Marc Albrighton, was finished off emphatically at the back post by Jamie Vardy to put the Foxes ahead with a trademark goal.
Craig Shakespeare’s side are certainly unlikely to pull off the same shock they did by winning the league two seasons ago but there’s no reason they can’t finish in the top half of the table this time around. No one will enjoy facing them.
Lacazette looks up to the challenge
In the build-up to this match, manager Arsene Wenger challenged his record signing to score a goal a game and the young Frenchman wasted no time in proving to his compatriot that he’s up to the task.
The 26-year-old doesn’t run around as much as teammate Danny Welbeck and nor does he act as a target man in the same way as Olivier Giroud but he looks to have a knack of finding space in the box that the other two do not.
His header within two minutes of kick-off was a finish of the highest order and his celebration, arms outstretched as if he owned the place, certainly suggested he will not be overwhelmed by the pressure of being Arsenal’s main man. All he needs to do now is show he can do it on a regular basis because Olivier Giroud – who scored a superb header – will be keeping him very much under pressure.
Arsenal need their first choice defence back imminently
The injuries to Shkodran Mustafi, Gabriel and Per Mertesacker, as well as Laurent Koscielny’s suspension mean Wenger had to choose two left-backs and a youngster in his back three.
The result was a back line of Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac and Rob Holding which looked nervy and disorganised on set pieces and meant Arsenal just never looked completely in control at any point.
Having the two left-sided men in there had the knock-on effect of needing to put Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on his less-favoured side.
As good as Oxlade-Chamberlain is – and as versatile as he is – placing him at left-wing back really limits Arsenal’s width. With no left foot to speak of, the young Englishman often has to cut in onto his right rather than getting to the byline, meaning the 3-4-3 system didn’t quite work as effectively as it can. Just as he did last weekend, Wenger switched formation just after the hour mark and Arsenal came back into the game.
Kelechi Iheanacho has work to do
The young Nigerian forward left Manchester City in a £25m deal presumably because he wanted first team football in the East Midlands.
While he was understandably an understudy to world class talents in Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus at the Etihad, he could well have as much work on his hands getting into the team at Leicester with Vardy and Okazaki once again proving what a partnership they are.
Okazaki showed that he is a more than capable second striker with his tireless work rate and early equaliser while Vardy was at his impish best, constantly hassling Arsenal’s defence and twice looking clinical in front of goal.
Iheanacho is undoubtedly a talented player, but it will be difficult for Shakespeare to drop his main pairing up front.
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