Leicester 0-2 Arsenal, match report: unnecessary early EFL Cup exit

Leicester City’s Carabao Cup came to an abrupt ending on Wednesday night when Arsenal eased to a 2-0 win at King Power Stadium.

A Christian Fuchs own goal and Eddie Nketiah’s injury-time finish handed Arsenal their first victory over Leicester City since 2018 in a game that possessed a pre-season feeling to it.

Ahead of the game, Brendan Rodgers made 11 changes to the team that defeated Burnley on Sunday evening. Despite the defeat, there were many positives to take, with James Maddison looking sharp in his attacking midfield role.

Daniel Amartey also returned to competitive football after nearly two years out, as he joined Wes Morgan and Fuchs in centre-back.

Maddison’s first-half strike came inches from putting the Foxes ahead, but his effort hit the post.

With Manchester City coming up on Sunday, Maddison getting more minutes in the tank will fill Rodgers with confident, despite the early exit.

The two goals scored by Arsenal came in the second half. The first coming when Nicolas Pepe’s effort cannoned off the past and onto Fuchs, who could not do much about it.

Despite introducing Ayoze Perez and Dennis Praet to the proceedings, Leicester failed to even test Bernt Leno in the Gunners net. The victory, and passage to the Fourth Round, was confirmed when Nketiah stabbed the ball past Danny Ward in injury-time/

For Mikel Arteta’s men, it is now four wins in four in all competitions this season. The win, at a ground they have not won at since 2015, will fill the Arsenal manager with confidence going into their tricky trip to Liverpool on Monday night.

Rodgers, on the other hand, will be pleased with a number of his players. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall continued to impress and Luke Thomas also showed his worth at left wing-back. The 3-4-3 formation deployed by Rodgers didn’t work as effectively as the 4-1-4-1 does.

It is likely that the Foxes traditional 4-1-4-1 formation will be back for the trip to Etihad on Sunday afternoon, despite the injury Wilfred Ndidi has picked up.