Arsenal struck twice in stoppage time to snatch a dramatic 4-2 win against Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
After a dominant start to the game, Arsenal went in front through Gabriel Martinelli and then doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time after a fine finish from Leandro Trossard.
But Leicester refused to lie down, and James Justin struck twice in the first 18 minutes of the second half to restore parity. Just as Arsenal looked set to drop two valuable point, Trossard popped up again to bundle home a winner via a deflection off Wilfred Ndidi in the fourth minute of stoppage time, before Kai Havertz poked home from close range to wrap up the victory.
But who were the standout performers for the Gunners? And who had a game to forget?
Mail Sport’s IAN HERBERT was on hand to rate the Arsenal players at the Emirates.
Leandro Trossard (pictured) and Kai Havertz scored in stoppage time to hand Arsenal a hard-earned win
James Justin scored two second-half goals as Leicester threatened to snatch an unlikely point
Gabriel Martinelli gave Arsenal the lead after the Gunners started the game strongly
Arsenal
David Raya 6 – Barely involved. Powerless to prevent the deflected Leicester goal or James Justin’s brilliant second. Good distribution
David Raya had little to do but was beaten twice as Leicester came roaring back in the second half
Jurrien Timber 6.5 – Excellent link-up with Saka on the overlap to set-up first Arsenal goal and generally impressive
William Saliba 6.5 – Neither of the centre-backs was troubled. A quiet afternoon for Saliba despite the tension that built ahead of him and was released by Arsenal‘s winner
Gabriel Magalhaes 6 – Didn’t always dominate his own box when Leicester threatened more in the second half but was a deadly distraction in the opposition area as Arsenal launched their late pursuit of a winner
Riccardo Calafiori 6 – Influential box to box, leaving Rice behind as cover as he influenced in the centre. Booked after losing a foot race with Buonanotte, at fault by allowing Justin freedom to strike a superb equaliser and lucky to escape second yellow after second poor challenge on Buonanotte
Left back Riccardo Calafiori had a couple of difficult moments in the second half
Thomas Partey 5.5 – Calm central presence but unable to find the quality of distribution and too often had to go sideways as Leicester packed their box
Declan Rice 7 – Consistently influential and the architect of a lot of Arsenal’s probing. Metronomic diagonal balls to Saka but unable to apply the can opener pass to get beyond Leicester in a disappointing second half
Bukayo Saka 8 – Arsenal’s outstanding player. The stand-in captain made hay down the right and made life difficult all afternoon for Wilfred Ndidi – who should have been booked after the No 7 nutmegged him – and Victor Kristiansen
Leandro Trossard 7.5 – The expressionless look on his face when he angled his body to prod home Arsenal’s second was that of a man with a point to prove, after last weekend’s dismissal. Excellent in the small pockets of space in the Leicester area. Denied by a wonder-save but prodded home deflected winner
Kai Havertz 5.5 – Lacking killer finish that could have put Arsenal out of sight. Spurned first half header typified a lack of clinical finishing. Half-hearted attempt to defend free kick before Justin’s header was deflected off him for Leicester’s goal.
Kai Havertz eventually got on the scoresheet but was wasteful with his finishing
Gabriel Martinelli 6.5 – Threatening in moments. Well-taken opening goal for Arsenal, spinning onto Timber’s cross. Might have scored before that but a heavy first touch to a Saka diagonal preceded a shot which crashed over the bar
Substitutes
Sterling (for Martinelli 74) 6 – Late cameo down the left but unable to find the breakthrough
Ethan Nwaneri (for Martinelli 84) 7 – Made immediate and brilliant impact, drawing one of many superb saves from Hermansen
Manager
Mikel Arteta 8
Mikel Arteta will be breathing a sigh of relief after his team struck late to secure three points
Leicester City (4-2-3-1) Hermansen 9; Justin 6, Okoli 5, Faes 5.5, Kristiansen 6; Winks 5.5, Skipp 5 (El Khannouss 90); Ndidi 5.5 (Edouard 90), Buonanotte 7 (Ayew 84 5), Mavididi 5.5 (Cordova-Reid 91); Vardy 5.5, Subs unused: Ward, Ricardo, Coady, Fatawu, Choudhury,
Manager
Steve Cooper 7
Referee
S Barrott 6
