Arsenal and Leicester battled out a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon as Arsène Wenger’s men continued to struggle to find form.
Alexis Sánchez netted his first Premier League goal for Arsenal to put the Gunners 1-0 up in the 20th minute, but it wasn’t enough to claim all 3 points.
Three minutes later Arsenal fell asleep at the back and allowed Leicester’s record signing, Leonardo Ulloa, find the net with a powerful header from Jeff Schlupp’s cross.
Arsenal started the game at a fast pace, linking up well and looking to attack the Leicester goal. Santi Cazorla found Yaya Sanogo in space in the early minutes of the game but the Frenchman failed to control the ball and Leicester cleared their lines.
Cazorla popped up again a couple of minutes later, getting on the end of an Alexis Sánchez flick on to fire a shot straight at Kasper Schmeichel.
With the quarter of an hour mark approaching, Koscielny and Schlupp clashed heads whilst battling for a header. Koscielny looked dazed and left the field for treatment, only to be allowed back on a few moments later.
Leicester almost drew first blood when Riyad Mahrez worked himself some space on the edge of the 18-yard box and shot just wide of the Arsenal goal. But it was Alexis Sánchez who got the first goal of the game two minutes later.
Cazorla’s lifted ball over the Leicester defence dropped in front of Sanogo, who miskicked his shot and dragged it across goal. Luckily for Sanogo, Alexis popped up in the right place at the right time to pounce on the loose ball and net his first Premier League goal for the Gunners.
The Arsenal celebrations were short lived however, as only three minutes later Ulloa ended the Arsenal party. The Arsenal defence fell asleep as they have done all too often in the past and Schlupp took full advantage and managed to swing a good cross in to the Arsenal penalty area.
Laurent Koscielny was well off the pace and let Ulloa run by him to meet Schlupp’s cross and fire a powerful header past Wojciech Szczesny to level the scores.
Arsène Wenger then opted to replace Koscielny, who was obviously struggling with his head injury, with Calum Chambers. Chambers looked confident and sharp and had he been brought on when Koscielny suffered a knock to the head, Leicester’s goal could well have been avoided.
From then on, Arsenal seemed to run out of ideas. Yaya Sanogo found himself in a couple of situations where he could have put Arsenal ahead again but ultimately, he lacked the quality and final product that was needed.
If there was a team that was going to win, Leicester looked the more likely. In the 54th minute, Ulloa worked his way in to the Arsenal box and left Chambers on the floor before firing his shot in to the side netting.
Szczesny also played his part in denying Leicester another goal. Leicester’s break resulted in a fine chance for Jamie Vardy to take all three points for the Foxes, but Szczesny pulled off a fantastic save to deny him.
Arsenal tried to force the issue throughout the three minutes of injury time but Leicester held firm to make sure they ended the game with a point.
Arsène Wenger’s men still lack the match sharpness they so desperately need and the absence of Olivier Giroud was all to noticeable today.
Full time: Leicester 1-1 Arsenal. A disappointing result for the Gunners.