Arsenal: Leicester City and Jamie Vardy ideal test for Unai Emery

Arsenal have continued to struggle to defend against fast-breaking opponents, particularly on the counter-attack. Leicester City and Jamie Vardy now come to the Emirates. It is the perfect test for the apparent progress of Unai Emery.

Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal often looked more uncertain defensively when they actually had the ball. While they were not especially well structured without the ball, it was when they passed aimlessly in midfield that provided the perfect opportunity for the opposition to pounce on a mistake and break with cutting speed.

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Defending against the counter-attack requires awareness, great decision-making, the willingness to commit professional fouls high up the pitch, and athleticism in defence, none of which Arsenal had in any great quantity.

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When Unai Emery arrived in north London in the summer, one of the key issues that he had to address was the defence against the counter-attack. Obviously, it would be foolish to expect him to solve those problems just two months into the season, but, thus far, the signs are fairly conclusive: the same vulnerabilities against fast-breaking opponents with deep-lying distributors and speedy attackers still persist.

There are plenty of examples of Arsenal struggling to contain the counter-attack. West Ham United in August. Everton a few weeks later. Even in the first half of the 5-1 dismantling Fulham, there were indications that this team can be threatened on the counter-attack, especially from turnovers. And now the Gunners face one of the best counter-attacking strikers and teams in the Premier League, Jamie Vardy and Leicester City.

Leicester come to the Emirates on Monday night as the Premier League returns after the October international break. Arsenal are looking for their seventh straight win in the league, hoping to chase down the league-leading trio of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City. If they are to be successful, they will need to contain Vardy.

Vardy has scored three goals in six games this season and is coming off three successive seasons with double-digit goals, including two topping the extremely impressive 20-goal mark. His goalscoring comes primarily through his searing speed. His movement off the ball is phenomenal, flying into the channels in behind the defence, collecting through passes and then unleashing vicious strikes on goal. He is the ideal type of striker that Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis, Rob Holding and an exposed midfield hate to defend against.

And that is why he and Leicester are the perfect test for Emery and the progress that his team are trying to make. The slow, arduous process of making mistakes, learning from them and then improving is punctuated by matches like these that directly oppose a significant weakness of the team.

It will be riveting to see how Emery and his players deal with the uniquely challenging threat that Vardy and Leicester pose. If they can show progress in shackling Leicester’s counter-attack, then it sets them up for a far more secure season than recent ones. This is the perfect test.