Premier League 2018/19 Tactical Analysis: Leicester City vs Arsenal

Leicester City cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Arsenal, who had to deal with the set back of Ainsley Maitland Niles’s first-half red card. A header from Youri Tieleman’s set the Foxes on their way in the second half, before a late brace from Jamie Vardy sealed the result.

While all three of Leicester’s goals came in the second half after Maitland Niles’s red card, the hosts already looked to have had had the beating of Unai Emery’s sluggish Gunners. Prior to the 35th-minute dismissal, Leicester had already managed four shots on target. Arsenal had managed just one.

The Gunners were lax and passive in their resistance to Leicester, with goalkeeper Bernd Leno being called into action frequently. The German was forced into making nine saves.

The result sees the Foxes remain three points behind Wolves in the race for the ‘best of the rest’ in the Premier League. Arsenal, meanwhile, have seen their top four aspirations take another hit.

This tactical analysis will look at how the match played out.

The Set Ups

Brendan Rodgers deployed his Leicester side in a 4-1-4-1 for this match. Wilfred Ndidi anchored in defensive midfield behind Hamza Choudhury and Youri Tielemans, while James Maddison and Marc Albrighton flanked. Jamie Vardy, of course, was at centre forward.

The energy of the Foxes’ midfield proved far too much for Arsenal in this match. Their central midfield three of Ndidi, Choudhury and Tielemans made a total of 10 tackles between them. Maddison once again proved to be a class act with three key passes and an assist.

Arsenal lined up in a 4-4-2 at the start of the match. Unai Emery decided to partner Pierre Emerick Aubameyang up with Alexandre Lacazette up front, while Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka occupying central midfield.

Alex Iwobi started on the wing for the Gunners before being hooked at half time in a reaction to the Maitland Niles red card. Laurent Koscielny replaced the Nigerian and moved to centre back, with Shkodran Mustafi moving out to right back.