Goals aplenty to be had at the Emirates
Europa League participants Arsenal and Leicester City lock horns at the Emirates on Sunday evening in the late Premier League kick-off. Both sides bounced back against continental opposition after enduring domestic defeats last time out. Much will depend on the fitness of Jamie Vardy for The Foxes, having missed two fixtures in succession. Even without him, there should be several goals to look forward to. Read our preview here:
All about that pace, about that pace
Gunners manager Mikel Arteta should restore his strongest available XI for the clash, and that means a front three of Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pépé will be more than ably supported deep in the final third by both the wing-backs and the cut and thrust of new face Thomas Partey. What they lack in a creative midfield force in the guise of Santi Cazorla, they now make up for in the fluid movement and interchangeability of the trio up top. The short passing and triangles down the left flank in particular will test Belgian international Timothy Castagne (once more deputising for the injured Ricardo Perreira) to his very limits, and he will require Ayoze Pérez to consider carefully how much further up the flank to be from him when possession is turned over.
Maddison squared
Two defeats on the bounce in the league have taken some of the sheen off an otherwise impressive start to the campaign by Brendan Rodgers' troops. Perreira is joined on the treatment table by Daniel Amartey, Çaglar Söyüncü, Wilfried Ndidi, and possibly Vardy himself. Any side with top six aspirations would rue the absence of one of those, but all five stretches the squad and pretensions of getting a positive result in north London. Nevertheless, someone who is on his way back is playmaker James Maddison, and he will almost certainly be risked from the outset in a very attack-minded bank of four behind the lone striker. Kelechi Ihenacho could be that man, and he underlined his credentials with a goal and two assists to his name against Zorya midweek in the Europa League.
Through the middle
The result will largely be determined by which side can assert territorial dominance through the middle of the park. Arsenal's strength is down the wings from an offensive perspective, but very much their weakness on the back foot. The latter won't be tested as much as by other teams, and much of the play will instead be in the half and central spaces. This could isolate the hosts' wing-backs out of the game. Even so, it will be more about turning the adversaries' defences towards their own penalty areas with through balls to Aubameyang and Lacazette, whilst the approach by Leicester will hinge hugely on whether it's Vardy leading the line (operating on the shoulder of the last defender) or Ihenacho (bringing the midfielders into play with his back to goal). 888sport are offering odds of 2.75 for more than three goals in this one.
