Havertz leads the assault as Merino returns from injury.” Possible Arsenal lineup versus Leicester – as Mikel Arteta unleashes a four-man defense
Following contrasting EFL Cup triumphs in midweek, Arsenal and Leicester City will face off in Saturday’s Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium.
While the Gunners thrashed Bolton Wanderers 5-1 on Wednesday, their newly promoted visitors required some goalkeeping heroics to get past Walsall.
Mikel Arteta started four adolescents who had not yet been born when the Gunners played their first non-competitive encounter at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening in the EFL Cup against League One club Bolton Wanderers.
One of those was 16-year-old goalkeeper Jack Porter, who became the youngest-ever starter for Arsenal’s men’s team. Despite not keeping a clean sheet, the teenager saw fellow academy star Ethan Nwaneri score twice, while Raheem Sterling, Kai Havertz, and Declan Rice also contributed.
Arsenal, who are still unbeaten in all tournaments this season, return to top-flight action a week after their explosive Etihad affair, where only a 98th-minute John Stones equaliser denied the Gunners a first away win to Manchester City since January 2015.
Arteta received criticism from opposition fans and players for putting every man behind the ball following Leandro Trossard’s dismissal, but few could reasonably fault the Spaniard for deploying an all-out defensive style with a numerical disadvantage at the home of the English champions.
Arsenal’s failure to maintain their one-goal lead cost them the opportunity to jump Manchester City at the summit – they are presently fourth with a two-point gap to the champions – but their victory record of 70% in 2024 is their joint-best in a single calendar year, alongside 1932.
Furthermore, Arsenal is seldom outfought on their home turf when newly promoted teams visit, having compiled a 39-game undefeated streak at the Emirates against such clubs in the Premier League since being outperformed by Newcastle United in 2010.
While Arsenal scored freely against Bolton in midweek, there was no way through for Leicester against a tenacious Walsall defence at Banks’s Stadium, as Steve Cooper’s side was brought all the way to penalties by their plucky League Two opponents.
However, Foxes goalkeeper Danny Ward, whose penalty heroics propelled Huddersfield Town to the Premier League in 2017, was impenetrable from 12 yards, save all three Saddlers penalties as Ricardo Pereira, Conor Coady, and Oliver Skipp led Leicester to victory.
The style of the Foxes’ hard-fought triumph, however, will hardly inspire confidence for a fourth-round trip to Old Trafford next month, and Cooper’s side now have larger fish to fry in the Premier League, where they are winless following last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Everton in appalling circumstances.
While Leicester are one of six teams still looking for their first top-flight win of the season, their superior goal difference means they are the highest-ranked of all those teams in 15th place, but they have never gone without a win in their first six Premier League games until their relegation season in 2022-23.
In terms of six-match streaks, Arsenal might complete a sextet of straight victory against their lowly opponents, whom they have defeated in each of their past five Premier League clashes since a shocking 1-0 Emirates setback at the end of 2020.
