Kickoff: 7:30 AM Eastern, 12:30 PM UK Venue: King Power Stadium, Leicester US TV: NBCSN Leicester! The team we really should have beaten to the title! The Foxes are having a weird season up there in the East Midlands. They're unbeaten in their last 5, but their last defeat was against Legia Warszawa. Three clean sheets all season, and one was against Manchester City. The personification of "rat who discovered cocaine," Jamie Vardy, is still their leading scorer at the age of 34. Their second leading scorer, Patson Daka, just bagged 4 in a Europa League game against Spartak Moscow, and they still barely won! Credit to Brendan Rodgers for keeping them interesting, yet still having them mid-table with a goal differential of 0. The home team has failed to win the last 4 meetings between these two sides. Arsenal won the last league encounter at the King Power, 3-1, in February. The stakes here are kind of important; a win or draw puts Leicester into 5th, while a win does the same for Arsenal. A draw would put Arsenal 6th, ahead of (incoherent demonic shrieking) on goal differential. This should be a fun one. COYG
Thanks Metro for keeping the threads going, even while (maybe) you're traveling. One tiny bit of hope might come from the fact that in our respective last matches (EFL) we beat Leeds comfortably whereas Leicester had to rely on PK's to beat Brighton. Yeah I know that's a minor and perhaps largely irrelevant citation. Plus our squad is somewhat decimated from some kind of virus(?) that's gotten into the squad. White may still not be fully over illness. Kieran is still in doubt (knock?) so hopefully Nuno is fit and ready... he was great in his last run out! This one's likely to be a big challenge and perhaps just a crap shoot. I just pray we don't do the classic away-team-sits-back-hoping-to-sneak-a-goal-on-the-counter. I'd like to see us go after this match, go for the juggler, high press them, right from the get go. That's served us quite well recently.
This will be a tricky fixture. LCFC also rested most of their regular starters on Wednesday, so I think they'll be up for this. We've been beaten by them in recent years when they counter-attacked the heck out of us. So as long as we stay organized in defense and avoid stupid mistakes playing the ball up from the back, I like our chances. Since our offense/attack is still largely inconsistent, this feels like a draw though.
I posted this 5 mins ago in the wrong thread (still waking up!) but it's just as valid now if not more so... Nice surprise that Ian Darke is our announcer today. He's good & reliable... AND has had the knack of calling some absolutely iconic Arsenal moments over the decades.
I was just going to post how well Gabriel is playing so far, when... He falls down randomly on the pitch, clutching his knee. Uh-oh.
Foxes have been really poor, but credit to Arsenal for taking advantage. Gabriel down, hope he is okay, he would be a huge loss. Maybe the player of the season so far?
Yeah, those are the clear top 3 to me, can't argue too much with any of them. Gabriel was up and down last season, and hit hard by covid. He seems to have really settled in now.
Yes!! And the first time I think I've heard his new song: Super, Super Tom Super, Super Tom Super, Super Tom Super Tomiyasu (with a slight wistful lament for the last Tom who had that song)
Makes me more than a bit nervous seeing us sit back and concede possession so much. I'm OK with 50% but 37%??