Premier League

LEICESTER CITY 0
ARSENAL 1 (Martinelli 46)

MIKEL Arteta praised the creativity that Leandro Trossard has added to the Arsenal ranks following the Gunners 1-0 victory over Leicester City this afternoon (Saturday).

Trossard replaced Eddie Nketiah as the central striker at the King Power Stadium and saw one thumping effort in the first half disallowed following a VAR review, before claiming the assist for Gabriel Martinelli’s winner.

“He did really well,” said Arteta. “I think he was really good, I think he got involved in many situations that could have ended up in many more big chances, he was involved in the incredible goal that he scored that was disallowed, involved in the goal of Gabi, the pass that he played to him, he’s so good in small spaces, tight spaces, with his creativity to open people up and I’m really happy with him.”

Arsenal secured their 10th win away from home this season following a largely controlled performance against the Foxes. The only goal of the game came in the opening minute of the second half when Martinelli slotted the ball beyond Danny Ward after being played in by Trossard.

Reflecting on the win that, for a few hours at least, saw the Gunners move five-points clear at the top of the Premier League table, Arteta said: “I think to do what the team has done here today is very, very difficult.

“We dominated the game from start to finish. We had a period of 10, 12 minutes where we gave so many balls away, we lost a bit of control, but generally how we were in the final third positions we were excellent. We lacked a little bit of that final pass to score more or create bigger chances but we stayed focused and determined.”

Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale barely had to break a sweat in the game, earning his 10th clean sheet of the season which is joint second best with Manchester United’s David de Gea and just behind Newcastle’s Nick Pope who has 12.

This defensive stability which has been a feature of Arsenal’s winning run this term was also praised by Arteta, who said: “Defensively we were incredible because to restrict Leicester to one shot in the whole game at home is an extremely difficult thing to do and the players did really well.”

It wasn’t just Leicester, though, who struggled to get shots on target. The Gunners’ first real chance didn’t arrive until the 26th minute when Trossard scored a world class goal from a shot just outside the box. But the celebrations were quickly muted as the goal was disallowed after a VAR check seemed to show that Ben White had held keeper Ward’s arm in the build up.

The Foxes also had the ball in the back of the net with Kelechi Iheanacho chipping Ramsdale, but there were little concerns for the Arsenal goalkeeper as the striker was clearly offside and the goal quickly chalked off.

VAR again was thrust into the spotlight just after the half-hour mark when Bukayo Saka looked to have been tripped in Leicester’s box by Harry Souttar, but to Arteta’s fury, a quick check led to nothing and the game resumed.

In the end the Gunners professionally set about claiming the three points. Arteta’s side will play their game in hand over title rivals Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium this Wednesday against 18th placed Everton, where a win will put them five-points clear.

LEICESTER: Ward, Castagne (Pereira, 85), Souttar, Faes, Kristiansen, Praet (Daka, 77), Ndidi (Soumare, 77), Dewsbury-Hall, Tete (Tielemans, 62), Barnes, Iheanacho (Vardy, 62)
Substitutes not used: Amartey, Mendy, Iversen, Thomas.

ARSENAL: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko (Tomiyasu, 90+3), Jorginho, Odegaard (Partey, 84), Xhaka, Saka, Trossard (Nketiah, 70), Martinelli
Substitutes not used: Turner, Holding, Tierney, Smith Rowe, Kiwior, Vieira