Arsenal face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon priced as bet365’s 5/6 favourites to get a stuttering start to the new Premier League season back on track with a victory.
Advertisement
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will be keen to avoid another Cup embarrassment after Bradford shocked them 4-2 in the FA Cup fourth round last season.
The East Midlands outfit have been the surprise package of the EPL season so far, and are the only team, after six matches, to remain unbeaten.
Arsenal are the narrow 4/5 favourites to win the game but if you want more tempting odds them my predicted score of 1-2 is on offer at 15/2.
“Leicester have done brilliantly well so far and have shown tonnes of character, but this is one for Arsenal“. Most worryingly, perhaps, Francis Coquelin will miss this one. Leicester progressed to the next round with a 2-1 win over the Hammers. That could necessitate Wenger shifting Aaron Ramsey deep into midfield alongside Mikel Arteta, with Santi Cazorla returning temporarily to the flanks.
A deep sigh of relief was heard around Arsenal when Gabriel’s three-match suspension was overturned in the week, but there are still gaps in the Gunners’ ranks. Jamie Vardy pulled one back, before Riyad Mahrez scored his fifth goal of the season from the penalty spot to earn a point for Ranieri’s side. His opponents here have speed too, but Arsenal will probably dominate the ball during this game.
“I played him very early before he was completely fit, physically”, the boss said.
Tottenham are expected to welcome back a number of rested players for Saturday’s clash at home to Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester City. For this reason I told the players at half-time [against Stoke]: ‘OK, we are losing, but it’s finished, and now we start to play.
Leicester’s Nathan Dyer is a doubtful with a knee problem.
But Ranieri has been taken aback by Arsene Wenger’s failure to add another title to his CV in the decade which followed the 63-year-old’s dismissal by Blues owner Roman Abramovich. “We responded well to the challenge we faced, mentally and physically”, he said.
Advertisement
The Potters gave the undefeated Foxes a scare in the first half as forwards Bojan Krkić and Jonathan Walters scored a goal apiece at the 13th and 20th-minute marks to move up 2-0 at halftime.
