LONDON (Agencies): Arsenal came back back from an early Youri Tielemans goal on Sunday to defeat Leicester City 3-1.
Goals from David Luiz, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe helped Arsenal to just their second win in their last five Premier League games.
It looked like it was going to be another disappointing weekend in the Premier League for Arsenal when Tielemans opened the scoring after just six minutes.
Granit Xhaka was dispossessed and the rest of the Arsenal defence backed off Tielemens who struck a low ball into the bottom left corner.
Arsenal had a penalty call six minutes later changed to a free kick. Pepe went down under a challenge from Wilfred Ndidi and Tielemans and while the referee’s on field decision was penalty, VAR overruled as the foul had happened just outside the box.
It was two unlikely figures in Luiz and Willian who brought Arsenal level on 39 minutes. Mikel Arteta’s side were awarded a free kick. Willian delivered a pointed ball into the box and Luiz headed it past Kasper Schmeichel.
Arsenal were awarded a penalty two minutes into added time at the end of the first half when Pepe’s shot hit Ndidi’s hand in the box. Lacazette stepped up and converted the spot-kick, meaning he has now scored all five penalties he has taken across all competitions.
Leicester’s second half got off to a bad start when Harvey Barnes went down injured and had to be stretchered off. Brendan Rodgers confirmed after the game that he will be out for at least six weeks and will require a knee operation.
Pepe added Arsenal’s third on 52 minutes in an attack which looked like it had been overcooked. Passes between the Ivory Coast international and Martin Odegaard saw the play move out wide but Willian managed to get a cross into the box which Pepe just had to hit into the net from close range.
“I’m really proud of the team and the character we showed,” Arteta said after the game. “Especially how we played, how we reacted when we conceded the goal really early because it puts this team in the worst scenario.
“But we looked composed, we looked comfortable. The positivity around the team was really good. We created some chances and scored some good goals. I think overall we deserved to win.
“The senior players have to drive the boat forward and then we can add something with the young talent, it can’t be the other way around. They have to take that leadership and be accountable when they are in the team because they are the ones that have to perform week in, week out to give us some stability.”
