Jamie Vardy proves Arsenal's bogeyman once again

Leicester City's Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring the only goal of the game. Picture: Catherine Ivill/PA Wire

Premier League: Arsenal 0 Leicester City 1

MIKEL ARTÉTA said there would be bumps in the road on his first managerial journey and last night he was knocked right off course by a tactical masterclass from Brendan Rodgers.

The Leicester manager, overlooked in favour of Arteta last December, played a ponderous Arteta side like a puppeteer – soaking up their possession and pressure before sending on Jamie Vardy to secure his side's first win at Arsenal in 47 years.

Arsenal were the better team, but there was something inevitable about the outcome which left them with three defeats from their opening six matches.

Arteta said afterwards: “We were winning every ball, created a few chances and had a goal disallowed for I don't know what. They defended deeper in the second half waiting for the mistake and in one moment they did it.” 

Rodgers commented: “It was a moment of real quality to win the game. It is the first time Arsenal have lost at home in 2020, that is how strong they have been so we decided to set up to cope with that, defend well, concentrate and know with your quality you can play your way into the game. Thankfully, it worked out well for us.

“We always felt Vardy could come on for the final 30 minutes and knew he would give a huge confidence to the team. He is world class.” 

Rodgers, who was born in 1973 when Leicester last won at Arsenal, added: “That is a long time but I want to praise Mikel for the quality he has added to this Arsenal side and it makes it a bigger achievement for us to win here.” 

Simple, when you know how!

The match started as if Arsenal were stuck in time from European action on Thursday night. Goalkeeper Bern Leno dashed out of his area and a poor clearance gifted James Maddison an early chance. Leicester's England international had a good opportunity to lob a drive over the stranded Arsenal keeper's head only to shoot into the side netting.

Leno had a very poor game away to Rapid Vienna, where he made similar mistakes, so maybe this was a sign of some nerves carrying into this match.

Undeterred, Arsenal striker Alex Lacazette had the ball in the back of the Leicester net in the very next minute, only for his effort to be ruled out for a Granit Xhaka offside.

An exquisite chipped pass from David Luiz sent Hector Bellerin clear on goal soon after, but the Spanish right wing back was denied a goalscoring effort by a brilliant late tackle by Jonny Evans.

Arsenal centre back Gabriel then tried two overhead kicks on goal in the space of a few seconds and they forced a third corner in their next attack. The game was still less than 15 minutes old.

No goals, but so much for boring Arsenal!

Aside from some strong running on the ball from Maddison Leicester looked toothless with star striker Vardy watching on from the bench on his return from injury. It also gave Luiz less to worry about and the Brazilian was able to spray passes out from the back like an in-form American quarter-back.

One such beauty freed Kieran Tierney wide on the left and his whipped cross was too swift for Lacazette head it in. It was the sort of chance his fellow French countryman Olivier Giroud would have gobbled up.

That was the third time Tierney had found a team-mate with crosses from the left wing and it seemed only a matter of time before Arsenal would break through.

But with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang now five league games without a goal for the first time in six years they struggled.

Leicester, meanwhile, appeared to be happy to sit deep and defend before unleashing Vardy late on to score.

Vardy came into this match with 10 Premier League goals against Arsenal - only Wayne Rooney, with 12, has netted more. Rooney's record probably just has one more match to last now.

Arsenal lost Luiz to what looked like a thigh muscle injury shortly into the second half but the introduction of fit again Shkodran Mustafi was no replacement for his passing ability.

Rodgers, meanwhile, was priming Vardy for action and the man who turned down a move to Arsenal four years ago came on for Dennis Praet with just over half an hour to go. The lift in Leicester's tempo was instant.

Arteta's response was to replace Bukayo Saka with Nicolas Pepe. The breakthrough, however. So nearly came from a rare Bellerin volley from an Aubameyang cross.

But it was, almost inevitably, Vardy who settled it in the 80th minute. Youri Tielemans sent Cengiz Under clear and the Turkish winger pinged the ball square for Vardy to score into an empty net with a diving header.

With Mustafi out of position it was a straightforward finish, but had Arsenal been blessed with a striker with the same scoring instinct the match would have been theirs before half-time.

ARSENAL: Leno 5, Bellerin 6, Luiz 7 (Mustafi 48, 6), Gabriel 7, Tierney 7, Ceballos 5, Xhaka 5, Partey 6, Saka 7 (Pepe 65), Aubameyang 5, Lacazette 5. 

Subs not used: Runarsson, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Willock.

LEICESTER CITY: Schmeichel 6, Castagne 6, Fofana 7, Evans 7, Fuchs 6, Justin 7, Tielemans 6, Mendy 6, Praet 5 (Vardy 60), Maddison 6, Barnes 6 (Under 75). 

Subs not used: Ward, Morgan, Iheanacho, Choudhury.

Referee: Craig Pawson 6