Arsenal 1-1 Leicester: Composure and conviction missing

Leicester City followed Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace with a decent 1-1 draw against Arsenal. But should it have been another victory for the Foxes?

After starting the brighter side, Leicester City fell behind when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tucked away Bakary Saka’s cross in the first-half. A flurry of Kasper Schmeichel saves to make sure it remained only 1-0, Jamie Vardy scored his third goal in two games to rescue a point.

However, with Eddie Nketiah sent-off with 15 minutes remaining, should the Foxes have shown more conviction to kill the game and win all three points? I believe so. With eight minutes of added-time, the Foxes failed to test Emiliano Martinez at all.

Once the hosts broke the deadlock, City seemed to instantly panic. After starting the more promising, the goal seemed to kill any confidence that had carried over from the victory over Crystal Palace. If it wasn’t for Schmeichel’s heroics, again, Leicester were lucky to go into the break only one goal down.

It seemed like deja-vu, similar to the Everton meeting last week. After a rather poor first-half, the second-half was like watching a different team. The energy of the substitutions Rodgers opted for certainly helped, including Christian Fuchs and Demarai Gray.

The strikers red-card opened up spaces for Brendan Rodgers’ side to push for a equaliser, which they did. But when eight minutes of added time was announced, the opportunity to turn the game on its head was there.

With Gray, Harvey Barnes and Dennis Praet all put on in hope to snatch all three points, the Foxes lacked the conviction to punish the Gunners. The removal of Kelechi Iheanacho could be questioned, as if the Nigerian striker remained on the pitch, a clear cut chance could have been provided for City.

With Arsenal taking off Aubameyang in injury-time for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, it was obvious Mikel Arteta was panicking and was fearful of a potential Leicester City winner. But, Leicester failed to capitalise on the extra man and seemed to panic on the ball. In the middle of the eight minutes added on, there was two occasions where James Justin passed the ball out of play. A clear sign that the composure was lacking for the boys in blue.

With Chelsea winning at Crystal Palace, a victory for Manchester United at Aston Villa on Thursday could mean that Leicester remain in the Champions League places on goal difference only. Sunday’s trip to Bournemouth now comes with added pressure.

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has ‘demanded maximum points’ from his side in their remaining five matches, with Aston Villa, Southampton, Crystal Palace and the Foxes coming up. Is now the correct time for Rodgers to demand the same?

Despite the draw at the Emirates, there are positives coming from the Foxes performances. The second-half showing was worthy of all three points and if it can be repeated at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday, another huge step towards securing that top-four position.