Arsenal: 4 tactical reasons behind 2-0 Leicester win

What a win. What a run. Arsenal made it seven matches unbeaten in the Premier League and nine in all competitions with a 2-0 victory away at Leicester on Saturday to continue a remarkable turnaround of fortunes.

September and October have been rather enjoyable. After a horror August that had everyone questioning the direction Mikel Arteta was taking this team in, the contrasting emotions that have followed in the seven matches since has taken the division by surprise.

There had to be improvements. Not solely down to faith in the manager to oversee them, but partly because it couldn’t realistically get any worse than three defeats without a single goal scored.

Having his full complement of players available has played a huge role. All five of the summer signings have made an impact since their arrivals and the quintet, not for the first time this season, were all on the pitch at the end of the King Power win.

4 tactical reasons behind 2-0 Leicester win as Arsenal extend unbeaten run to nine matches thanks to goals from Gabriel and Emile Smith Rowe

From the jaws of crisis there is new hope in north London.

After seeing off Aston Villa in the most complete performance of the season, how the team would fare making the journey north to Leicester was always going to be interesting. Tactically everything was spot on against the Villans, and replicating that success against a direct rival for the European places would constitute the biggest sign yet that a corner has been turned.

Arsenal past that test with flying colours.

There were tactical notes in the performances – the majority being on show in that spectacular opening 25 minutes – and also other, less coached, aspects that helped Arsenal see out the three points. Four in particular stood out.

1. High Starting Line With Bravery

Jamie Vardy loves playing against Arsenal. He hasn’t scored more goals against any one opposition in his whole career.

And where is his biggest threat? In behind. One aspect of playing this Leicester team that has to be taken into account is the danger they pose exploiting the spaces between goalkeeper and defenders.

What Arsenal did in those opening stages was trust their talent and play to their strengths. The signings of Benjamin White and Gabriel have always been with an eye on allowing the team to adopt a higher line with athleticism to cover, and the approach centred on heightening Arsenal’s positive aspects as opposed to adjusting for Leicester’s.

White played a brilliant role in pocketing a striker who is among the best in the Premier League at taking advantage of gaps in behind. His and Gabriel’ speed across the grass is superb and when the passes were made down to Vardy in the channels he was always well positioned to cover.

The high line also had Takehiro Tomiyasu and Nuno Tavares pushing up and forcing the Foxes’ wing-backs into their own half. Much in the same way as they did against Villa, the front-footed approached kept the pressure on and Brendan Rodgers had to change his system at half-time to accommodate that.

It was brave and it was bold. Most important of all, it worked.

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