This weekend’s Premier League fixtures saw the top 4 race gaining steam with Chelsea seeing off Newcastle to remain third while a Cristiano Ronaldo hattrick saw Manchester United beat fellow top 4 rivals Spurs to maintain pace with the chasing pack.
It was now down to Arsenal to match their rivals with a crucial three-pointer against a struggling Leicester City side at the Emirates.
From being top 4 challengers themselves in the past two seasons, Leicester had fallen off quite a bit as they were languishing in 12th place on the table going into the match. Arsenal on the other hand were unbeaten in their last 7 games in the league.
The gulf in quality and the contrasting aspirations for the rest of the season were evident early in the first half as Arsenal went ahead through a Thomas Partey header flicked in by the near post from a Martinelli corner. The Ghanaian was left free in the area with three Leicester players loosely marking him in a costly mistake for the Foxes.
The early goal gave Arsenal the confidence to keep up the pressure in Leicester’s half with Partey hitting the crossbar and Alex Lacazette’s long ranger being comfortably collected by Schmeichel.
But Leicester did manage to get a rare crack at the Gunners’ defence and in the 35th minute when a fine Harvey Barnes header was kept out by Aaron Ramsdale in what was their best chance of the game.
It was no easy save for the Englishman as he was moving towards the opposite side of the post but a quick dive to his right ensured that he got there just in time to parry it out.
Ramsdale’s save was heavily applauded by the Arsenal supporters present and also by Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.
The latter was seen preparing to celebrate Barnes’ equalizer but was left astonished by the save. The manager was caught by the camera turning around to his bench and describing Ramsdale’s effort with a “wow.”
Arsenal kicked off the second half with the same intensity and made it 2-0 after Lacazette scored from the spot following a Soyuncu handball inside the box.
But at the 35th minute in the first half, the game could have gone in a different direction had Ramsdale not saved the effort from Barnes.
Rodgers and the Foxes supporters would now be ruing the missed chance as they continue to drop down in the table. But Arsenal would be more than happy with their keeper and the rest of the team’s outing on Sunday as they look to lock down the 4th spot on the Premier League table.
