The Gunners haven’t lost to Leicester City in the Premier league since 1994 and Arsene Wenger would hope it remains that way as Arsenal go into the game determined to break the customary poor result on their first game of the domestic campaign. Both the sides will exhibit their summer signings on Friday.
Team News
Arsenal
Arsene Wenger has revealed in the pre-match conference that he doesn’t expect either Alexis Sanchez or Mesut Ozil to take part in this game. While the Chilean struggles to come back from an abdominal strain, the German international is a major doubt with an ankle injury. Both missed Arsenal’s FA Community Shield match against Chelsea.
Apart from the two playmakers, Welshman Aaron Ramsey remains a huge doubt with a calf injury. Francis Coquelin could make a timely return for the match against Leicester but Wenger is unlikely to risk him.
Santiago Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Gabriel Paulista remain out of the game with their long-term injuries. Among the boosts would be Per Mertesacker returning following the nasty cut that had forced him to leave the ground on Sunday and Shkodran Mustafi.
Leicester City
Among the major misses could be experienced players like central defender Robert Huth and central midfielder Danny Drinkwater. The English midfielder has a thigh injury and is expected to be out for yet another week while the towering German has just returned to training and would be lacking match fitness.
Striker Islam Slimani has also returned to training but is still recovering from his gashed leg injury that he suffered last month. New signing Vicente Iborra is also expected to miss the game, while Harry Maguire and Kelechi Iheanacho could feature. Matty James has returned to training after a gap of two years following a cruciate ligament injury that he incurred in May 2015.
Riyad Mahrez could remain a doubt owing to his excessive links with Arsenal over the summer and Craig Shakespeare would decide late about his selection.
Team Line-ups
Arsenal- Cech; Holding, Mustafi, Monreal; Bellerin, Xhaka, Elneny, Kolasinac; Iwobi, Lacazette, Giroud
Leicester City- Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Maguire, Fuchs; Mahrez, James, Ndidi, Albrighton; Vardy, Iheanacho
Key Players
Arsenal- Of course, new signing Alexandre Lacazette remains the player to be seen on Friday. The Frenchman had a decent game against Chelsea where he was unfortunate not to get a goal after his beautifully curved ball hit the post. Granit Xhaka could be the prime provider for Arsenal from the deep midfield.
Leicester City- Jamie Vardy would expect to start his season with a bang after a frustrating campaign last term. It didn’t take him long to combine with Iheanacho in their pre-season game for a goal and the manager would hope for a similar outcome this time.
Odds
Arsenal @ 4/9
Draw @ 27/5
Leicester City @ 18/5
