EPL: Arsenal recover from early howler to beat Leicester City

Arsenal came from behind to claim a 3-1 away win over Leicester City, lifting themselves up into the Premier League’s top half and keeping their slim top-four hopes alive.

Mikel Arteta made six changes to the team that beat Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka dropped to the bench for the trip to the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes took the lead after just six minutes when some slack defending from Arsenal allowed Youri Tielemans to drive into the penalty box and find the far corner of the net with a low finish past Bernd Leno.

On. A. Plate. @willianborges88 🤝 Nico#LEIARS pic.twitter.com/AbYf3CF6jw

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 28, 2021

Arsenal looked to have been given a way back into the game when Nicolas Pepe was fouled in the box, but VAR was used to adjudge that the contact had in fact occurred outside the area with a freekick awarded instead.

However, the visitors drew level after 39 minutes when David Luiz pulled away from his marker at a free-kick to glance home a header from a Willian delivery. Alexandre Lacazette completed the turnaround from the spot when VAR was used to spot a handball by Wilfred Ndidi just before the break.

Three points on the road! 🛣#LEIARS 🦊 1-3 ⚪️ (FT)

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 28, 2021

A disappointing afternoon.

Full-time sponsored by Parimatch ⏱

— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 28, 2021

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Harvey Barnes was forced off through injury not long into the second half and Arsenal rubbed salt into that wound moments later, scoring a third through Pepe after good work by Martin Odegaard and Willian.

The result takes the Gunners up to ninth place in the Premier League table and sees Arteta’s men close the gap on West Ham United in the final Champions League spot to eight points.