Arsenal continued on from where they left off on the opening day of the Premier League season as they made it two wins from two with an entertaining and action-packed 4-2 victory over Leicester City in their first game of the 22/23 campaign at Emirates Stadium.
It was a scorching day in North London, and with temperatures during the game reaching as high as 37 degrees, it was always likely too affect the play and the game would be who would adapt best to the tough conditions. And Arsenal started slightly sloppy, with Wesley Fofana breaking through the Arsenal backline in the first few minutes, forcing an early save from Aaron Ramsdale. Arsenal though grew into the game as it went on and Granit Xhaka struck the post with a header from close range. Minutes later, some quick passing between Xhaka and Jesus led to the Brazilian in the box, but even with the ball dead at his feet and with three Leicester defenders in front if him, Jesus brilliantly found the far corner with a beautifully worked, dipping finish to open the scoring. But the forward was far from finished in the first half as Arsenal won a corner and after Jamie Vardy diverted the ball towards the back post, Arsenal’s new signing was there again to pounce and double his sides lead.
And Jesus could’ve had a first half hat-trick if it wasn’t for Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward who made two fine saves too deny Jesus twice more before the break. But despite looking comfotbale, there was a scare for Arseanl right at the end of the first half as Vardy was played through and with Ramsdale coming out to stop him in his tracks, the Leicester forward went down under almost no contact and after a penalty was initially given, the decision was eventually overturned after a VAR check, sending Arsenal into halftime with a comfotable 2-0 advantage.
However, this wouldn’t last too long in the second half as eight minutes into the second period, the ball was launched high and far by Leicester and as it was headed across the Arsenal penalty area, William Saliba slightly misjudged the movement of his goalkeeper and sent the ball into his own net.
But Leicester’s resergunce didn’t last long as only a minute later, Leicester goakeeper Danny Ward made a mistake of his own as he failed to claim Ben White’s cross, the ball fell to Jesus who set up Xhaka for a tap in, making it 3-1.
With fifteen minutes to go, Leicester would again gain a goal back, with a nice flowing move finished off by James Maddison at a tight angle. However, there was a case of Deja Vu as just like before, it took only a minute for Arsenal to respond as Gabriel Martinelli hit a left-footed shot hard and low from the edge of the box into the bottom corner, making it 4-2 to Arsenal and killing off the game in the process.
Arsenal’s next fixture will be an away trip to Bournemouth as Mikel Arteta’s side will look to maintain their perfect start to the 22/23 Premier League season.
Player Ratings:
Ramsdale: 6
White: 7
Saliba: 7
Gabriel: 7
Zinchenko: 8
Partey: 6
Xhaka: 8
Saka: 6
Odegaard: 7
Martinelli: 9
Jesus: 9