Last season's top two Premier League teams will clash on Saturday when Leicester City host Arsenal at the King Power Stadium. Both teams will be looking to bounce back after having suffered defeats on the opening weekend of the season. Last term Arsenal dominated Leicester, even though the Foxes won the title. The Gunners won both league matches, 5-2 at the King Power Stadium in September and 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium in February.
Leicester started the season with a surprising defeat, 2-1 at newly-promoted Hull City, a team that many see as certain candidates for relegation. The Tigers had only 13 first-team players fit for the match and an interim manager, so everybody expected Leicester to come out with at least a draw. The Foxes have lost just five of their last 48 top-flight matches and have lost just N'Golo Kante this summer.
For Arsenal losing the opening match of the season tends to become a tradition. The Gunners have lost the opening match in three of the last four seasons, and all those defeats were at home. Last weekend they lost 4-3 against Liverpool, but they might get some consolation in the fact that they managed to come back from 4-1 down. With just two new signings this summer, Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding, Arsene Wenger has a fairly slim squad at his disposal since several first-team players are injured. Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi picked up knocks last weekend and will be out for a month, Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista are also out of contention but Laurent Koscielny might return.
Probable line-ups:
Leicester: Schmeichel - Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs - Mahrez, King, Drinkwater, Gray - Musa, Vardy
Arsenal: Cech - Bellerin, Holding, Chambers, Monreal - Xhaka, Elneny - Walcott, Cazorla, Chamberlain - Sanchez
My prediction: 1-1 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Leicester win - 2.88
Draw - 3.60
Arsenal win - 2.50
Your feedback
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
Comments (1)
sharpe
08/21/16, 11:08:49 PM
Didn't watched the game but I doubt I miss something phenomenal. No doubt the season will be a lot harder for Leicester than the previous one but that's quite normal,...
Didn't watched the game but I doubt I miss something phenomenal. No doubt the season will be a lot harder for Leicester than the previous one but that's quite normal, last season could never be repeated I guess. I think the aim for them have to be keep playing good football and hope for the best. The start was tough for Arsenal, especially after Burnley proved Liverpool is not some kind of super team.
Show more
