Mikel Merino was Arsenal’s hero as he came off the bench to fire two late goals and defeat Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. We look back at the game with our Leicester vs Arsenal stats page.
Mikel Merino came off the bench to win the game for Arsenal against Leicester City in a low-quality affair at the King Power Stadium.
Merino guided his 81st-minute header into the back of the net to open the scoring before adding another six minutes later to seal all three points.
Having suffered another injury blow in midweek with Kai Havertz ruled out for the rest of the season, Mikel Arteta’s side were left with few options in attack. Leandro Trossard began in the central forward role, flanked by Raheem Sterling on the left and teenager Ethan Nwaneri in the right.
With an unfamiliar attack, the Gunners struggled to create too much in a disappointing first-half and Leicester arguably had the best chance of the half via Wilfred Ndidi’s header deep into added time.
Nwaneri looked like the most likely source of an Arsenal goal, and he came closest to opening the scoring for the north London club on the hour mark, cutting inside onto his left foot and curling a shot from outside the box that just cleared the crossbar.
With 15 minutes remaining, 17-year-old Nwaneri came even closer to opening the scoring, firing a strike against the inside of the post with Foxes’ goalkeeper Mads Hermansen beaten.
Nwaneri wouldn’t get on the scoresheet, but he was able to deliver a match-winning cross to assist Merino’s goal with only nine minutes remaining. Merino added a second goal with a tidy left-foot finish in the 87th minute after a cross, this time from the left side, by Trossard.
It was the first time that Merino has scored more than once in a competitive match since scoring twice for Osasuna vs Gimnàstic in a second-tier Spanish playoff match back in June 2016, while he became just the third player to score twice as a sub in a Premier League game this season after Harry Wilson and Darwin Núñez.
If this match was an audition for Merino to take the part of Arsenal’s central striking option for the remainder of 2024-25, then he certainly did enough to prove he’s more than capable.
Arsenal move to within four points of table-topping Liverpool with this victory, although Arne Slot’s side will be expected to increase that back to seven with a home game versus struggling Wolves tomorrow. For now though, the Gunners will enjoy decreasing the gap and offering potential that the title race is far from over.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Leicester City vs Arsenal stats from their Premier League clash at the King Power Stadium.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
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Leicester 0-2 Arsenal Stats: Supersub Merino Provides Hope for Depleted Arsenal Attack Opta Analyst.
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