17 mins: Luck! Partey hits the woodwork after a beautifully worked goal from the right. After a series of quick, silky passes including a backheel from Lacazette inside the box, Xhaka’s shot was blocked. The ball rolled to Partey from outside of the box, and he just couldn’t curl it into the top right hand corner.

14 mins: This has been such an impressive last eight or so minutes from Arsenal and Martinelli in particular is everywhere. This time, he picked up a lofted ball from the left and breezed past Ricardo on the left. He looked through on goal before he was deemed offside once more.

After a brilliant start from Arsenal yields an early corner, Martinelli whips in an excellent delivery that Partey confidently heads in for his second goal of the season.

8 mins: Martinelli is already making himself a nuisance here. This time, he is released inside the box by a slick pass from Odegaard. However, Schmeichel was equal to his finish and then he was ruled offside.

6 mins: After patiently building from the back for the past few minutes, Arsenal create some danger through a great pass by Tierney to Martinelli on the left. Martinelli runs at Pereira before the ball goes out for a corner. A few penalty appeals, but nothing major.

3 mins: While Arsenal have had possession for most of the first two minutes, Leicester have already demonstrated their intentions with some high octane pressing out of the gate. A panicked pass from the Arsenal defense turns over the ball. Otherwise, a quiet start.

Brendan Rodgers on Sky Sports:

“Mikel’s done fantastic after a difficult start. They have that cohesion now and players that can make a difference. It’s a real challenge but we came here last year and won.”

Mikel Arteta has opted for no changes to Arsenal’s starting lineup from last weekend when they beat Watford. As expected, Smith Rowe returns to the squad on the bench.

Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City have made three changes since their win over Leeds, with Vardy out with injury while Tielemans and Ndidi start on the bench. Ihenacho, Pereira and Mendy take their places in the starting lineup.

Teams:

Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tierney; Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Lacazette

Subs: Leno, Smith Rowe, Holding, Pepe, Tavares, Lokonga, Elneny, Nketia, Swanson

Leicester XI: Schmeichel; Pereira, Amartey, Soyuncu, Thomas; Maddison, Mendy, Dewsbury-Hall; Albrighton, Ihenacho, Barnes

Subs: Justin, Tielemans, Perez, Choudhury, Vestergaard, Ndidi, Daka, Jakupovic, Lookman

Jamie Vardy’s 11 goals against Arsenal is the second most any player has scored against Arsenal in the Premier League, behind only Wayne Rooney’s 12. He will play no role today after being ruled out in the week due to his continued recovery from a knock to his knee.

Meanwhile, Leicester’s Marc Albrighton spoke about Arsenal:

“They’ve had a really good season and they’ve really tightened up at the back. They’ve got some good quality young players going forward. It’s going to be a difficult game, but one we’re looking forward to and it’s a great opportunity for ourselves.

“I obviously watch a lot of Premier League football and you can see how well they’re doing. They’ve got some good young English talent, which is great for the England and Arsenal themselves. They seem full of confidence at the moment so it’ll be tough but we look forward to the challenge.”

(via LCFC TV)

In his Friday press conference, Mikel Arteta spoke about Leicester.

Well I agree that they’ve been much more consistent in terms of performance and results. It’s a team that has come a long, long way and I think Brendan [Rodgers] and the coaching staff have done exceptional work, they have a lot of injuries as well, I believe this season, plus the Covid issues that we’ve all been through, it’s a difficult mixture and it’s been difficult for all managers, but as you said, they’re now in a better moment.

Emile Smith-Rowe is back in the squad today after being out due to Covid but Arteta said Arsenal are being “cautious” with Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Hello! Welcome to our coverage of this afternoon’s contest between Arsenal and Leicester City. As Arsenal look to continue their top four push today, Leicester will try to return to the top half of the table after falling down to 12.

Arsenal return home with good vibes surrounding them and as they look for their 5th consecutive Premier League win. Last week, the tight scoreline in their 3-2 away win over Watford did not fully reflect the joy and cohesion they played with, scoring three lovely goals and doing so with their group of young stars, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard at the heart of anything good for them.

After Manchester United’s win over Tottenham, they trail United in fourth place by two points but with four games in hand over them. Over the past 10 games, Arsenal have won the joint most points in the league alongside Manchester City. We’ll see if they can maintain this run of form.

Meanwhile, 12th place is not where more people envisioned that Leicester City would be this year and it has been a frustrating season. Still, they arrive at the Emirates having at least established some winning habits in recent weeks.

With the caveat that they came against two teams, Leeds and Burnley, fighting for relegation, Leicester have won their last two Premier League games and they are looking for their fifth successive win in all competitions. Like Arsenal, they have only played 25 games so far and can make up plenty of ground on some of the teams ahead of them.