The Champions of England were off to the worst possible start to their new Premier League campaign. They were beaten by a manager-less, 13-man squad, who put in a spirited performance in their first game in the Premier League for a long time. Claudio Ranieri’s men were particularly wasteful all throughout the game as they failed to make it count when they were on top during the 90 minutes. The Foxes looked the better side on the night but Hull City’s determination and lapse of concentration from Kasper Schmeichel gave the hosts all three points at the KC Stadium.
Though the loss is devastating, it will also give Ranieri plenty of positives to take from the game ahead of the 37 games that await them in the league. The likes of Jamie Vardy, Ahmed Musa and Riyad Mahrez looked sharp while Wes Morgan looked as solid as he was in the previous season. Danny Drinkwater and Andy King also managed to control the midfield with command but it were too early in the season to have the kind of an impact they had on the league last season as Hull exploited their visible slackness and hit them on the break. However, they will have to buckle up quickly as games will be coming thick and fast for the next 9 months.
Leicester City welcome the Gunners in what is a match between the top two teams in the league last season. Arsene Wenger’s side were also beaten in their opening fixture, by a spirited Liverpool side that got the better of the home side at the Emirates which was recognizably weak. The likes of Per Mertesacker, Gabriel Paulista and Danny Welbeck were missing due to various injuries while Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny were not fully fit to take part in the game. However, the manager can call upon the last three players for the game against Leicester City and will hope to get a result from the game.
However, it will be far from easy for the Gunners who did not have a proper pre-season with the whole squad. The manager will welcome Ozil and Giroud after their EURO16 adventures into the team for the first time and will hope that their skill can get the job done against the Premier League champions but Vardy and co. will know that they have a great chance of getting the better of the visitors this weekend. Jamie Vardy and summer signing Ahmed Musa seemed to have already understood each other pretty well with a decent partnership taking shape. The finishing was lacking in the last game but the build up play was excellent as Musa created two really good chances for Vardy.
The duo could be up against Rob Holding and Laurent Koscielny, a centre-back pairing that has hardly ever played together. The ill-effects of a new center back pairing were evident in the Liverpool game and Arsenal are no closer to solving their defensive problems than they were at this time last week. So Leicester City’s attack has every chance of running the Gunners ragged and teaching them another lesson at the King Power this weekend. Liverpool’s brute pace and movement was too hot to handle last weekend and the same could happen again at the KP stadium.
Wenger needs a couple of signings at least, to make his side stronger and good enough to compete with the best in the league and with no real additions to the squad from the game against Liverpool, they have given themselves that less of a chance to get a result from a trip to the title winning club. Do you think the Vardy Party will resume at King Power this weekend?
