Premier League 2018/19: Arsenal vs Leicester City

This Premier League match analysis was originally published on our network Arsenal site wearethearsenal.uk

It’s been an amazing weekend for the football itself as the Arsenal’s performance was highly praised by football fans worldwide. The team painted on the pitch and got an important win over Leicester City (3-1). And by important I don’t mean the 3 points. I mean that the club slowly started to get its identity back and it has been a pleasure to witness it.

The impressive team effort resulted in a 10th win in a row in all competitions. Although there are still some defensive issues to be fixed, it’s clear that the team is back on track and ready to conquer. Unai Emery is doing great in reshaping the Londoners and the progress could be seen with an unarmed eye.

I shall admit that there were two players that made the difference in the game but it was the perfect connection between them all that impressed me most.

On the other side, Leicester had some great opportunities too but couldn’t take advantage of them. Jamie Vardy wasn’t playing on his potential to help the team score, and the absence of the captain Wes Morgan was crucial for their defensive efforts.

But how did the Gunners impress and why Leicester couldn’t react properly to their press?

Playmaking at its finest

When it comes to playmaking there are two names that immediately pop up – Mesut Ozil and Lucas Torreira. They both made Arsenal’s life easier with their brilliant playmaking skills and took part in all three goals against The Foxes.

Ozil was named captain and he looked more than inspired to get the team to its 10th win in a row, although the whole team struggled to bring fresh ideas during the first half. After missing the trip to Fulham (5-1) due to back spasms the supporters were hyped and declared that the team could perform perfectly fine without Ozil. Well, yes, it might happen in the London derby, but Mesut surely proved them wrong. His performance was undeniably good and even the stats can confirm that. His passing accuracy percentage was 91 with 62 accurate plays. For 80 minutes playing time, he managed to score an equaliser, assist and contribute in the build-up of all three goals. His creativity and great positioning resulted in five key passes, with 1/1 accurate crosses and 1/1 accurate long balls added to that. He dribbled successfully past his opponents twice and won 6/7 of his duels. One thing is for sure – when the German is playing on his potential his performance is out of this World.

One-touch combination between Ozil and Iwobi. Mesut tried to confuse his markers with his body language and instead of kicking the ball with his left foot, he made a pass to Iwobi (who moved great off the ball) with his right. Then Alex gave it back to Ozil who was already in the box and made a parallel pass to Lacazette who was perfectly positioned in front of the goal. While trying to stop Ozil, Harry McGuire left Laca completely uncovered.