Today in the "Premier" league two matches between the top four teams will take place. In one of them, the club that has impressed everyone this season, "Leicester City," will try to make another serious claim for the champion's title in a match against the "Arsenal" team. "Eurofootball.com" provides you with a review of these matches.
"Arsenal" vs "Leicester City"
Match time and venue: February 14th at 14:00 at the "Emirates" stadium, in London;
Referee: Martin Atkinson;
Head-to-head history: "Arsenal" won 62 times, 43 matches ended in a draw, and "Leicester City" won 29 times;
Team form: "Arsenal" (1 win, 3 draws, 1 loss); "Leicester City" (4 wins, 1 draw);
Tournament situation: After 25 rounds, "Leicester City" has 53 points and leads the league, while "Arsenal" with 48 points shares second-third place with the "Tottenham Hotspur" team.
Team news:
"Arsenal":
No new injuries have been reported within the "Arsenal" team, but defender Gabriel Paulista missed the last training session before the match. Francis Coquelin should soon return to the field, and Danny Welbeck may return to the bench for the first time after a long break.
Recently, the London team was in a bit of a slump and did not win in four consecutive matches, but they ended this unpleasant series by defeating the "Bournemouth" club last weekend.
"Leicester City":
The "Foxes" should field the same lineup that beat the "Manchester City" team 3:1 last week. Jeff Schlupp and Matty James, who have been absent for a long time, have recovered from their injuries, but it is doubtful that Claudio Ranieri will give them a chance to return to the field in such an important match.
Together with the "Southampton" team, "Leicester City" is currently showing the best form in the "Premier" league and has earned 13 points in the last 5 matches.
Key statistics before this match:
Petr Cech leads the league in "clean sheets" - he has not conceded a goal in 12 matches this season. By the way, Cech has become the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in the history of the "Premier" league this season;
Arsenal won the first head-to-head match by a score of 5:2. This is one of the two defeats for "Leicester City" this season;
The victory in the last round against "Bournemouth" helped the "Arsenal" team end a run of four consecutive winless matches (3 draws, 1 loss);
Leicester City has lost only one of the last 16 matches in the "Premier" league (10 wins, 5 draws);
Arsenal could be the only team to defeat the current leaders of the "Premier" league twice this season;
Leicester City has not won in 18 consecutive matches against "Arsenal" (6 draws, 12 losses);
The last time the "Foxes" celebrated a victory against "Arsenal" was in 1994 when they won 2:1 at home;
Playing against the then league leaders, in the last 11 matches, "Arsenal" has only won once (4 draws, 6 losses), scoring four goals and conceding 18;
Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez scored half of his goals in the "Premier" league this season in the first head-to-head match against the "Leicester City" team;
Arsenal have conceded only one goal this season when defender Gabriel Paulista played the full 90 minutes;
Leicester has collected 28 points away from home this season. This is five more than the closest rivals in the "Premier" league;
Claudio Ranieri's coached teams have only won once in the last 15 matches against "Arsenal" (5 draws, 9 losses). The victory came in a 2004 Champions League match;
The "Foxes" have scored 47 goals in 25 league matches this season. Along with "Manchester City," they are the highest-scoring team;
Claudio Ranieri's team has kept a clean sheet in five of the last seven "Premier" league matches;
Riyad Mahrez has scored 14 goals and provided 10 assists in the "Premier" league. He is the first player to reach double digits in both categories this season.
SAM predictions*: Most common result - 1:1, "Arsenal" win 48%, draw 25%, "Leicester City" win 27%.
*SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a supercomputer created by Professor Ian McHale at the University of Salford. It is used for football match predictions.
