England Premier League
Saturday 13th August 2022
Kick off at 3pm BST
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Match Preview:
The huge positive for Arsenal is that they have started this season with a win and it was against Crystal Palace away from home, never an easy game. What can we take from Arsenal’s performance? Mikel Arteta’s side played well in the first half but seemed to fade in the second, they are taking small steps and that looked evident last Friday night.
One could argue had Palace been more effective in the final third then Arsenal could have suffered. At the same time the Gunners defended well when they had to and William Saliba in particular looked the business. Here is a player that signed for Arsenal a few seasons ago but kept getting loaned out, but he looks like real quality in the back four now. Despite the victory over Palace hardly being vintage, 3 points were earned, the club are in 2nd place coming into this weekend and they kept a clean sheet, so for now there is little to complain about.
Leicester looked like they were on their way to victory against Brentford but the Bees equalised with just four minutes remaining to draw 2-2 in an entertaining encounter. Certainly manager Brendan Rodgers will see the game as 3 points dropped given his side were leading 2-0. The Foxes produced quite a lot in front of goal and will want to be replicating those chances at the weekend, but of course the Emirates is not an easy ground to visit even if Leicester have tasted some good matches over the years against the Gunners.
Team News:
Arsenal: Fabio Vieira, Emile Smith-Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all being tipped to return for this game, but all will need to be assessed due to a lack of match fitness.
Leicester: Harvey Barnes has been ruled out for at least the next two weeks due to a knee injury. Ryan Bertrand has been out since last December but is expected back at the end of this month after his long term knee injury. Ricardo Pereira is out long term with his Achilles after his pre-season injury and isn’t expected back this year.
Arsenal vs Leicester Head to Head:
Arsenal won this fixture 2-0 last season, and the Gunners have won the last 3 meetings in a row.
Leicester last won at the Emirates two years ago in a 1-0 victory.
Six of the last seven meetings has seen under 2.5 goals.
Arsenal vs Leicester Prediction:
Recent results have gone Arsenal’s way against a side in Leicester who have enjoyed success over the Gunners, and in the past 10 games despite perhaps not having the quality on paper the Foxes have managed four wins. Arsenal at times let Palace in and the Eagles finishing was not up to standard, one would expect that Leicester can give Arsenal a sterner test. At the same time Arteta is making Arsenal have more firepower and more belief in their game, and there does seem to be glimpses of the club turning a corner and becoming a force in the Premier League once more. This may not happen but we should expect Arsenal to be more of a threat at home and for any side coming here to find it very difficult.
Leicester have taken backwards steps last season so it will be interesting to see if Rodgers can turn that around, overall the Foxes with the budget and players they have remain a very good side, but playing this Arsenal team at this time could prove too much. New signing Gabriel Jesus will want to get off the mark and start scoring goals for the club like he did with apparent ease in pre-season, what better to open the account in his teams first home game of the season, so we will be backing him to do so. For Arsenal to win their price has shortened from 1.50 to 1.44 and you have to weigh up if that makes sense to back the Gunners at that price, we believe they should have enough in the tank but Leicester have goals in them. We can get better value looking at the goals markets.
Arsenal vs Leicester Betting Tips:
Total goals (Over 2.5) at 1.66
Both teams to score (Yes) at 1.75
Anytime goalscorer: Gabriel Jesus at 2.25
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