Preview: Leicester City vs. Arsenal - prediction, team news, lineups

The Foxes failed to make their first-half dominance count in a 3-0 loss to Manchester United last weekend, while the Gunners beat Aston Villa 4-2 in one of the games of the season.

Match preview

A combination of wasteful finishing and inspired goalkeeping from David de Gea prevented Leicester from making the breakthrough at Old Trafford last weekend, where even Erik ten Hag admitted that his side's first-half performance was "rubbish".

However, some half-time tweaks turned the tide in Man United's favour, and the red-hot Marcus Rashford made Leicester pay for their profligacy with a brace before Jadon Sancho came off the bench to put the cherry on the icing on the cake.

Having been handed a harsh reality check after thumping Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 on February 11 - Lilywhites fans would not mind their North London rivals suffering the same fate here - Leicester sit 14th in the rankings and four points clear of the drop zone with 23 games gone.

Brendan Rodgers's side appeared to have turned a corner with a three-game winning run - no doubt sparked by the timely return of James Maddison - prior to their trip to Old Trafford, where the Red Devils extended Leicester's run without a clean sheet in the Premier League to eight matches.

Furthermore, not since October have Rodgers's men recorded a Premier League shut-out at the King Power Stadium, and the team who have lost five games from winning positions this season - the most in the league - are now welcoming the team who excel at winning from losing positions.

Karmic retribution felt oh so sweet for the travelling Arsenal fans at Villa Park, where ex-Gunner Emiliano Martinez - who has made no bones about his negative feelings towards the club - appropriately played the villain arc with copious amounts of time-wasting before scoring the most unfortunate of unfortunate own goals.

Twice Villa took the lead through Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho, and twice Arsenal came back through Bukayo Saka and Oleksandr Zinchenko before Jorginho's stunning effort rattled the bar and bounced off the head of Martinez into the back of the net.

The World Cup winner attempted to make amends by going up for a last-minute corner, but Gabriel Martinelli had the simple task of slotting home into an empty net when that did not pay off, and Martinez's attempt to go from zero to hero in the other penalty area was blasted by former Arsenal boss Unai Emery after the game.

By pulling themselves out of their mid-season rut and ending a four-game winless run, Mikel Arteta's charges sit two points clear of Manchester City with a game in hand after the champions dropped more points away at Nottingham Forest, and the Gunners kick off a couple of hours before City return to action against Bournemouth this Saturday.

A sixth straight game without a clean sheet in all tournaments is a concern for Gooners, but no team has scored more than their 24 Premier League goals on the road so far this season - an average of two per game - and a 4-2 success over the Foxes in August marked Arsenal's fourth Premier League win in a row against Leicester.

Leicester City Premier League form:

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Leicester City form (all competitions):

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Arsenal Premier League form:

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Arsenal form (all competitions):

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Team News

Leicester's treatment room has slowly emptied over the past few weeks, and Rodgers should only be working without the trio of James Justin, Jonny Evans and Ryan Bertrand for the visit of the league leaders.

Arsenal-linked Youri Tielemans was only considered for a place on the bench at Old Trafford but should return to face his admirers here - potentially in place of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall if the defensive-minded Nampalys Mendy holds his spot.

Gunners fans have grown sick of the sight of Jamie Vardy, whose 11 goals against the Gunners is the most against a single opponent for the striker, but he is firmly down the pecking order these days and will likely lose out to Kelechi Iheanacho again.

As for the visitors, Gabriel Jesus and Mohamed Elneny are still recovering from their respective knee surgeries, and it remains to be seen if Thomas Partey can battle back from his latest thigh problem in time for Saturday's game.

Partey is supposedly hopeful of shaking off his injury in time for the weekend, but Arsenal will not rush him back while Jorginho continues to deputise expertly, and Arteta also allayed any fears of an injury to Saka after he went down with an ankle problem early in the second period at Villa Park.

Saka was once again the subject of rough treatment against Villa, but the 21-year-old is now on the verge of becoming the sixth-youngest player ever to record 50 Premier League goal involvements, having netted 26 times and provided 23 assists in the top flight so far.

Leicester City possible starting lineup:

Ward; Castagne, Souttar, Faes, Kristiansen; Mendy, Tielemans; Tete, Maddison, Barnes; Iheanacho

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Jorginho, Xhaka; Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli

We say: Leicester City 1-3 Arsenal

Having put four past Tottenham and created numerous chances in the first half against Man United, Leicester should have no trouble breaking down a shaky Arsenal backline, but the Gunners are the masters at overcoming adversity.

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