Leicester vs Arsenal predicted lineups and team news | OneFootball

Arsenal will be hoping to put the pressure on in the Premier League title race when they travel to face Leicester City at 12:30pm on Saturday.

Leicester vs Arsenal predicted lineups

Leicester (4-2-3-1): Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Vestergaard, Kristiansen; Ndidi, Soumare; Ayew, El Khannouss, De Cordova-Reid; Vardy

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Nwaneri, Trossard, Sterling

Arsenal trail Premier League leaders Liverpool by seven points, but play before their title rivals this weekend. The Gunners are currently unbeaten in 14 games in the Premier League, their best run in the competitions since going 16 without defeat in 2010/11.

Things aren’t going as well for Leicester, who enter the weekend in the relegation zone. The Foxes have struggled under new boss Ruud van Nistelrooy and sit two points from safety.

Leicester vs Arsenal team news

Leicester will be boosted by the news that Jamie Vardy is available to play. The English striker had been a doubt due to injury, but he has been passed fit. And at the right time too, having scored 11 Premier League goals in his career against Arsenal. That’s the most he’s scored against any club in the competition.

Vardy isn’t the only Leicester man to have passed a late fitness test. Both Victor Kristiansen and Jannik Vestergaard have overcome injury doubts, and should start in defence. Ricardo Pereira and Abdul Fatawu remain the only absentees for Leicester, though the former should be back soon.

With the injury returns, Leicester may opt to go back to their last Premier League starting XI, having had to shift things around for their FA Cup exit to Manchester United. The only exception could be Wilfred Nidi retaining his spot in the midfield, having returned from injury.

Arsenal suffered a huge blow this week. Kai Havertz picked up an injury while at their training camp in Dubai and has now been ruled out for the rest of the season. He’s not the first Arsenal player to suffer a long-term injury this season, and Mikel Arteta has admitted that the busy fixture list does take its toll.

“Obviously some of them we know are based on load and minutes, that’s inevitable,” Arteta told reporters.

“We have players who have been injured and who have played 130 games in the last two seasons, so in the end it’s an accident waiting to happen if you continue to load and load. Is it this season, is it the accumulation of that, is it the stress of that, is it luck, is it preparation, is it methodology?

“There are a lot of factors, and it’s very difficult to point at something, but the schedule is super demanding and for certain players, especially explosive players, it becomes a real issue.”

Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli remain on the sidelines with regards to Arsenal’s other attackers, while Gabriel Jesus is also out for the season. Leandro Trossard is likely to start up front for Arsenal, with Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri providing the width.

But there is a positive with Ben White returning from injury to bolster the defensive options.

Arsenal’s attacking woes

Arsenal have scored 49 goals in the Premier League this season, with only Liverpool (58) netting more in the competition. But 23 of those have come from players not available to play right now due to injury.

Havertz is the Gunners’ leading Premier League goalscorer on nine goals, ahead of Martinelli (six) and Saka (five). The highest-scoring available player for Arsenal this weekend will be Trossard.

The Belgian has scored four goals this season, one more than centre-back Gabriel, defensive midfielder Thomas Partey and youngster Ethan Nwaneri.

Worryingly for Arsenal, Trossard’s four goals have been spread out across the season, with just two coming since the start of October. Per 90 minutes, Trossard ranks fourth among Arsenal’s players with shots at 2.23, behind Havertz, Jesus and Saka. He comes in at sixth for shots on target per 90, averaging just 0.68.

His finishing hasn’t been too bad, with only a slight negative difference between his Expected Goals (3.68) and xG On Target (3.65).

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