Arsenal continue title charge with narrow win against Leicester

Gabriel Martinelli’s second-half goal gave Arsenal a vital away win against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The crucial victory means that the Gunners now lead reigning Champions Manchester City by 5 points at the summit of the Premier League standings.

Arsenal dominate from beginning to end

Mikel Arteta’s side dominated possession right from the go and appeared to have taken the lead in the 26^th minute when January signing Leandro Trossard smacked in a delightful finish in the top corner following Bukayo Saka’s in-swinging corner.

However, the away side’s joy was short-lived as VAR chalked off the goal after replays suggested that Ben White had fouled Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward leading to the goal.

Three minutes later, the hosts had the ball in the back of the net again, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

Oleksandr Zinchenko had given the ball away to Tete; the Brazilian played through Kelechi Iheanacho, who kept his composure and chipped Arron Ramsdale to put the ball in the back of the net.

However, the striker had made his run too early and was yards offside much to the frustration of the home faithful.

Arsenal were by far the better of the two sides playing with composure in the middle of the park and dominating possession with their wide range of passing.

Arsenal make fast start to second half

Just seconds after the restart, Martinelli finally gave Arsenal the lead with a smart finish.  

Trossard found the Brazilian winger with a toe poke pass, and the 21-year-old burst into the box with a darting run and then curled his effort into the bottom corner beyond the helpless Ward.

Arsenal thought they had gone 2-0 up 10 minutes later when Saka scored, but the goal-scorer, Martinelli, was offside.

The home side hardly came close to restoring parity as the Londoners grabbed yet another away win following their last week’s thrilling victory over Aston Villa.

Arteta’s side now lead the pack with 57 points from 24 games, whilst Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester are in 14^th with 24 points, continuing their disappointing campaign.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Action Plus