Arsenal: 4 tactical reasons behind 2-0 Leicester win

2. Albert Sambi Lokonga Sitting Deeper and Following Youri Tielemans

On the ball it wasn’t Sambi Lokonga’s best game with a few loose passes, but his job in the east Midlands was all about providing a screen and nullifying Youri Tielemans’ central threat.

His fellow Belgian is in superb form and across the whole Premier League there are few more complete midfielders than him. He was quiet in this one.

Playing as part of a central midfield duo in front of a three-man defence, the deep runs he makes to support James Maddison and the strikers are a key feature of his game, where he can either take a pop at goal or look to feed through balls into the spaces in behind.

Every time he tried to break lines Sambi was keeping a watchful eye, covering the spaces in front and positioning himself well to cut off passing lanes.

This worked brilliantly as Arsenal played on the front foot in the opening exchanges, by which time the two goal lead prompted some less than desirable dropping off.

Everyone sat too deep into their own half, which was the result of Leicester upping the tempo as much as it was Arsenal feeling they could see the game out from there. But, even when it was more backs to the wall, the team kept Leicester mostly at bay and Sambi’s screening job in midfield and on Tielemans was key in that.

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