Arsenal will be keen to walk away with a positive result against Leicester City as they aim for back-to-back wins in the Premier League when they face off at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Gunners kicked off the new campaign on a positive note after they claimed a 2-0 victory over London rivals Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park through a goal from Gabriel Martinelli and an own goal by Marc Guéhi.
The Foxes, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back after they surrendered a two-goal lead to play out to a thrilling 2-2 draw against Brentford at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
The victory took Arsenal up to second place in the league standings with three points from their opening match, while Leicester’s draw against Brentford sees them occupy a ninth place on the log with one point from one match.
“It’s a really good win. It’s a very difficult thing to do because they created an atmosphere here and they are a really good side. They created so many issues and we experienced that last season and to come here and win in the way that we did it, credit to the boys. I’m really happy,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said.
“The disappointing thing was that we didn’t score more goals because we had so many opportunities and we looked a real threat, but we cannot expect to do that here for 95 minutes, it’s not going to happen.
“Then we have moments where we have to show and dig in and be accountable in our job, especially when we are defending deep, and we did that fantastically well, so I’m really happy to get the clean sheet and the win.”
In head-to-head stats between the two teams in the Premier League last season, Arsenal managed to get the better of Leicester in both the home and away fixtures following their 2-0 win at the King Power Stadium before claiming a win over the Foxes by the same margin in the return leg at the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta will be boosted by the return of the trio Fabio Vieira, Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who all recently featured for the Under-21s ahead of their next match, while Brendan Rodgers will have to make changes as Ricardo Pereira, Harvey Barnes and Ryan Bertrand remain on the sidelines due to injury.
Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli has been in some form for the Gunners and has seen four of his last five Premier League goals prove decisive in victories – including his opening goal against Crystal Palace last week.
Meanwhile, Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has scored more career goals against Arsenal (11) than any other club as he looks to break his duck of never scoring an EPL goal on matchday two.
Arsenal Form This Season:
W
Leicester City Form This Season:
D