- 4th place Foxes two points ahead of Gunners
- Arsenal took four of six points last season
- Gunners 61W-44D-28L all-time vs. Leicester
The last time Leicester City knocked off Arsenal, it was right around Thanksgiving time here in the States (Watch live at 10 a.m. ET Saturday on USA and online via Live Extra).
That’s Thanksgiving 1994.
Arsenal has more or less owned Leicester City over the past couple decades, holding a 11W-6D mark in league play dating back to that Wednesday in November.
[ MORE: Premier League Power Rankings, Vol. II ]
Still, Leicester looks as primed as ever to hold serve at King Power Stadium against the mighty Gunners. As predicted by many, Arsenal has struggled to find a good striker option up top their attack.
Meanwhile the Foxes have been paced by the incredible play of Algerian international Riyad Mahrez, a serial member of the Premier League Team of the Week.
Arsenal will be without Gabriel Paulista, who will miss one game -- not three -- due to his altercation with Chelsea’s Diego Costa last week.
What they’re saying
Ranieri on the challenge of starting well -- “We must concentrate a little more and be careful because it’s not easy to score a goal when you go down. I told my players to concentrate. We start well in every match and suddenly we make a mistake. When the opponent makes a fantastic goal, you can well done, but not when we help them to score a goal.”
Arsene Wenger praises Leicester’s preparation under Ranieiri-- “Against Claudio it was difficult because when he left Chelsea, he built the team that was so successful at the start. I remember them finishing second in the league with Ranieri and the team was upcoming with young players like John Terry and Frank Lampard who were the players that contributed to the success of Chelsea. I’ve followed his career because I have a big respect for Claudio Ranieri. He’s a great manager and a great man as well. Ranieri is Italian, they love clean sheets in Italy and they love to defend well. We would love to defend well against Leicester but also to attack well.”
Prediction
At some point, Arsenal is going to explode offensively, and they’ll have plenty of pent-up aggression after last weekend’s perceived-wronging at the hands of Chelsea. That said, we don’t feel Leicester’s run is over. Give the Foxes a chance to match the Gunners in a 1-1 draw.