As It Happened: Arsenal 1-0 Leicester City


Hello, and welcome to Nigerianeye's live coverage of the match in the Premier League between Arsenal and Leicester City.


The Gunners head into the match having reached the FA Cup final on Sunday, but Arsene Wenger will be aware that his side must string a run of wins together in the Premier League to maintain their hopes of a top-four place at the end of the season.

Leicester currently sit six points clear of the relegation zone, but Craig Shakespeare knows that they cannot afford to be complacent with just nine points separating eight teams on the bottom half of the standings.

In August, the two teams played out a goalless draw at the King Power Stadium.


OFFICIAL LINE-UPS

LEICESTER CITY: Schmeichel; Simpson, Benalouane, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Ndidi, Drinkwater, Albrighton; Ulloa, Vardy
LEICESTER CITY SUBSTITUTES: Zieler, Chilwell, Musa, King, Amartey, Okazaki, Gray


ARSENAL: Cech; Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Bellerin, Coquelin, Xhaka, Gibbs; Ozil, Walcott, Sanchez
ARSENAL SUBSTITUTES: Martinez, Ramsey, Elneny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Welbeck, Giroud
















The full-time whistle goes at the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal have battled their way to a potentially important win over a dogged Leicester side. A draw would have been a fair result, but Huth's late own goal has gifted Arsenal a couple of bonus points ahead of tomorrow's Manchester derby, It's fair to say they will be hoping for a draw! Thanks for joining our live coverage of the match!


90+4 min FULL TIME: Arsenal 1-0 Leicester City

90+3 min I think that is just about it in North London, just as Spurs take the lead against Palace through Christian Eriksen.

90 min Four minutes, to be precise.

90 min SUBSTITUTION! Demarai Gray has been introduced into the action in place of Benalouane. There will be just a few minutes for the winger to make the difference.

86 min Disaster for Leicester - and for Huth - but how big a goal could this be for Arsenal? It was Monreal - of all people - who got the shot on goal, but it deflected off Huth, wrong-footed Schmeichel and went into the net. That is harsh on the Foxes.

86 min GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Leicester City (Huth own goal)

82 min BOOKING! Arsenal now have a player booked in the form of Xhaka, who is guilty of fouling Mahrez on the touchline.

80 min BOOKING! Another booking for a Leicester player and they now have three of their back four on a yellow card. Benalouane is booked for barging into Giroud.

74 min SUBSTITUTIONS! Wenger certainly isn't messing about. He makes his final two changes, with Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud replacing Coquelin and Walcott.

72 min We have less than 20 minutes to go now and Leicester are still on level terms. This could be a huge result for the Foxes. Arsenal, on the other hand, would be left with too much work to do to claim fourth place, surely. Can they net a late winner? Can Leicester nick it?

69 min SUBSTITUTION! There's a switch for Leicester, too. Shinji Okazaki has replaced Ulloa.

68 min SUBSTITUTION! Wenger decided to make his first alteration and it's an attacking one. One comes Danny Welbeck - who scored the winner in this fixture last season - for Gibbs.

66 min CHANCE! Another opportunity for Arsenal - this time for Sanchez - but his shot from 20 yards is saved by Schmeichel. This most certainly has not been a boring nil-nil.

65 min CHANCE! Arsenal are starting to build a little bit of momentum. It's Koscielny who gets their next opportunity on goal after meeting a cross, but his glancing header is too close to Schmeichel.

63 min We should add that there have been no further goals in the other two matches. The only goal of the night has come from Middlesbrough - no-one would have predicted that!

60 min We have reached the hour mark at the Emirates and we remain goalless. It's a replica of the first half at the moment with Arsenal, slowly but surely, coming back into it. It will be interesting to see how long Wenger waits before making a change.

54 min CHANCE! More encouraging signs for Leicester as Ndidi meets a long throw-in from Fuchs but his header is too close to Cech in the Arsenal goal.

52 min BOOKING! That's both Leicester full-backs in the book. Fuchs is given a yellow card for a foul on Walcott as Arsenal show their first signs of ambition since the restart.

48 min Like in the first half, it is Leicester who have started the faster since kickoff. No chances to speak of, but the Arsenal backline are being forced into some early work. Don't think that this match is a foregone conclusion.

46 min Arsenal get us back underway in the second half.



The half-time whistle goes at the Emirates and we remain goalless at the break. Leicester have had their moments but they are probably fortunate to remain on level terms, especially with Sanchez's shot hitting the bar moments ago. Big 45 minutes coming up for the Gunners, who cannot afford to drop points this evening.



45+1 min HALF TIME: Arsenal 0-0 Leicester City

45 min WOODWORK! Just as the action appeared finished for the first half, Sanchez goes and hits the woodwork! He has always got this kind of shot in his locker but his 25-yard strike cannoned off the crossbar, much to the relief of Schmeichel.

40 min SHOT! Leicester are starting to make a habit of hitting the side-netting. Mahrez creates an opportunity for himself after receiving a raking pass but his resulting effort just misses the target.

39 min It's worth noting that Simpson was sent off for two bookable offences in the corresponding match last season...

38 min BOOKING! The first player to go into the referee's notebook this evening is Simpson, who is cautioned for bringing down Sanchez in the centre of the pitch as Arsenal looked to break forward.

35 min It has started to quieten down at the Emirates - in terms of chances, not the crowd. Arsenal are probably shading this one right now but Leicester still look a threat on the break. It's very finely poised.

31 min CHANCE! Leicester are beginning to live very dangerously. A corner from Ozil is flicked towards goal but Simpson - not for the first time tonight - makes an important clearance inside the six-yard box.

27 min CHANCE! Both goalkeepers are keeping their respective teams on level terms. It is Schmeichel's turn to make a fine save to stop Walcott from finding the bottom corner from close range. The Dane has been excellent all season and this is another stop to add to his collection.

23 min SAVE! Back come Leicester, who are showing that they are capable of causing the Gunners defence numerous problems in this match. A Fuchs long throw eventually leads to the ball falling at the feet of Mahrez, but his half-volley is well-saved by Cech.

20 min The Emirates is starting to fill up a bit more now and it is coinciding with their team seizing control of proceedings. Leicester have had to make a couple of timely blocks to prevent their hosts from either getting a shot on goal or finding the back of the net.

16 min SHOT! Coquelin is the last player you would expect to get a shot on target, but he forces Schmeichel into a smart intervention as he tips the ball from his 25-yard shot behind for a corner.

13 min We haven't seen much of Arsenal so far. I did think that Leicester could trouble their three-man backline, but I also thought that Arsenal would overpower the Foxes in defence. It hasn't been like that during these early stages. Plenty of possession but no real shots on goal.

9 min LATEST! This probably doesn't have much relevance to Leicester but I will provide an update anyway. Middlesbrough have taken the lead against Sunderland through Marten de Roon.

7 min SHOT! Some of the Leicester fans think this is in the net but unfortunately for them, it is just the side-netting. Again, it was Albrighton and Vardy, with Vardy getting his shot away on this occasion.

4 min There are plenty of empty seats at the Emirates and it is the visitors who have made the brighter start. Vardy and Albrighton combined well down the left but between them, they were unable to get a shot away.

1 min Leicester get us underway.
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