Noelle Matthews
- Leicester City v Arsenal
- Saturday February 25 2023, 10:00 ET
- At King Power Stadium, Leicester
Arsenal is maintaining its lead at the top of the Premier League and it can keep up the pressure on the chasing teams with a successful trip to Leicester on Saturday.
Who do Bettors Favor?
The best-rated online sportsbooks are not taking any chances this weekend. Bettors favor the Premier League leader and Arsenal is priced as a -140 chance, despite being the visiting team. Brendan Rodgers’ team is a big outsider at +380, while the draw is rated at around +305.
| Leicester v Arsenal |  |  |  |
| Leicester | +388 | +350 | +380 |
| Draw | +305 | +310 | +300 |
| Arsenal | -140 | -141 | -145 |
Leicester Improving
That Brendan Rodgers is still the manager of Leicester City is an ongoing source of surprise for English soccer fans, and perhaps even Rodgers himself.
Back in the fall, with Leicester bottom of the league, having picked up just one point from its first seven games, it seemed that time was up for Rodgers. A 4-0 win over rivals Nottingham Forest at the start of October, however, seemed to have bought him some time, and a tightened defense, which saw Leicester concede only once in five games helped the team to climb the table.
That Leicester improvement was patchy, and four consecutive defeats over the Christmas period threatened to end the revival. Overall, however, the team has continued to improve gradually, although last week’s heavy defeat against Manchester United was a reminder of how far Leicester is off the Premier League pace these days.
Arsenal Staying In Front
Although Arsenal’s achievements through the first half of the season were impressive, the real test was always going to be how well the team would handle the pressure of being the front-runner in a title race, given the expectations of fans who haven’t seen a Premier League win since 2004.
The good news for those fans is that Arsenal is handling the pressure relatively well and as we head into March, Arteta’s team is still in front and is setting a good pace.
A run of one point from three games, which included a convincing defeat against main challengers Manchester City suggested that the Gunners could be wobbling. But Arteta’s players bounced back to beat Aston Villa 4-2, a game in which they twice trailed and scored the winner and their fourth in injury time. That resilience was subsequently rewarded when City dropped two points against Nottingham Forest later that afternoon, leaving Arsenal two points clear at the top with a game in hand.
EPL Betting Head-to-Head
This isn’t a fiercely contested rivalry by English soccer standards, but it is an old one, dating back to 1895 when Leicester Fosse beat Woolwich Arsenal 3-1 in Division Two.
Over the years, Arsenal has been by far the more successful team, and it is not a surprise to find that it dominates the all-time head-to-head record with 71 wins to Leicester’s 33 and 54 drawn games. Leicester did have the better of their early meetings, winning 9 of the first 16, but aside from a brief period in the early 1960s, Arsenal has been on top.
Mikel Arteta’s team has also won the last four meetings with Leicester, including both of last season’s games and back in August, it won again, this time 4-2, with Gabriel Jesus scoring two of those goals.
EPL Team News
There’s some relatively encouraging team news for Leicester as the list of injured players has not lengthened, but Rodgers will still be without some key players here.
Ryan Bertrand is out following his knee injury and no date has been given for his expected return, and the same is true of Jonny Evans, who hasn’t been in action since injuring his calf muscle in December. The other long-term absentee for the Foxes is James Justin, who is not expected to feature this season after sustaining an Achilles tendon injury.
Thomas Partey missed the Aston Villa game with a thigh injury and although he might have made some progress in his recovery in time for this match, Mikel Arteta is thought not likely to risk him, given the excellent form that Jorginho has been in. Mohamed Elneny remains a long-term absentee and Gabriel Jesus will also be out, as he continues his recovery from knee surgery.
EPL Match Betting Pick
Arsenal has benefited to an extent from the fact that Manchester City has not quite played up to its usual standards this season, but Gunners fans will rightly point out that their team’s strong form may have contributed to that by putting pressure on the reigning champions.
Looking at this game, you might be deterred by the short odds on an Arsenal win in the match betting market, given that this is a road game, and if Leicester was in the solid defensive form that it had been in November, I’d be thinking twice about that price. But the last two Foxes home games have produced nine goals and in an open, chance-laden match, there’s only going to be one winner.
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