Arsenal vs Leicester City: 3 Things To Watch For

Arsenal host the league leaders in an epic showdown this weekend! Leicester City will look to continue their amazing season while the Gunners look inch closer to the top.

Venue: Emirates Stadium

Date: 14 February, Sunday (Est)

Oddly enough, in true Arsenal fashion, the Gunners haven’t won many crucial games against the top sides in English football. The one exception, is a 5-2 win over the current league leaders. One of their two losses this season were at the the hands of an explosive, creative Arsenal team. However, since then things have changed and Leicester City have grown more confident with every game they sit on top of the League.

Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Leicester City

1) Ozil + Sanchez = Guaranteed Goals?

Lets begin with Ozil. The German playmaker announced his return to the lineup with a truly spectacular game last week. Ozil was majestic on the pitch and his decisions were as always on point. But the most amazing aspect of Ozil’s game is his ever improving ruthlessness.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

That goal was a truly impressive strike and in previous years, Ozil would have probably chosen to try and control the ball before he tried to pass it in to the net. Last week, Ozil hit the ball first time and created a magnificent lift to a struggling Arsenal team.

As per Squawka.com, Ozil’s focus on the pitch was evident with the German completing 93% of his passes with almost 45% of his passes categorized as forward passes. All of the statistics show Ozil can control games when he wants to and he will definitely want to control the game this weekend!

The second part of the equation is Alexis Sanchez. Despite a poor game from him, he did exactly what I and all of us expected from him, he tried really hard to always help his team and be a threat. Sanchez’s poor performances are still positives to Arsenal as the forward works extremely hard to chase down opponents and create turnovers the Gunners can capitalize on. Sanchez’s effort will always lead to a chance for Arsenal so despite only creating two chances for his teammates. Sanchez’s influence is not completely reflected on the numbers alone.

2) Vardy will be unstoppable …

However, Vardy will only score 1 goal. Look for Wenger to deploy either Koschielny or Paulista as a defender who sticks to Vardy all game long. Wenger has used a similar tactic against other elite strikers in previous seasons. Most notably Manchester City’s Aguero. Koschielny trailed him all game and forced Man City to beat Arsenal with someone else. That tactic is proven to work. So look for Wenger to use that tactic against the most efficient, hottest striker in the League this year.