Feature

#LEIARS: Five things to look out for

Auba and Laca

We'll be aiming to return to winning ways on Saturday when we face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. 

We head into this game desperate for all three points after back-to-back draws in the Premier League - but we'll be lining up against an in-form Foxes side, who have the potential to push for a top-four finish. 

Ahead of the game, we've picked out five key things to watch out for - scroll down to find out what they are.

UNAI'S 50

This is Unai Emery’s 50th Premier League match in charge, becoming the 16th Arsenal manager to oversee a half century of league games.

His record for the first 49 is W25 D12 L12 F89 A66, earning 87 points so far, and his biggest win was 5-1, recorded twice (against Fulham and Bournemouth). Emery's longest unbeaten league sequence is 14 games, which included the longest winning streak of seven matches.

He has won eight of his 24 away games so far, drawing six and losing the other 10. We have scored in all but five of the 49 games, and kept 10 clean sheets (just two of which were away).

The most common scoreline is 1-1 (seven times) but none of Emery's previous 49 league encounters have ended goalless. Only three managers – George Burley (67 games), Ossie Ardiles (54) and Joe Royle (53) managed more games without a 0-0 draw from the start of a Premier League career.

Emery

AUBA'S ARMBAND

Pierre-Emerick wore the armband for our last Premier League game - the 1-1 draw at home to Wolves - but this will be his first game since taking the position full-time.

Our top-scorer certainly led by example last weekend, scoring his ninth goal of the season – and 50th overall for the club – and hopefully the armband will inspire him again this Saturday.

Since making his Premier League debut in February 2018, he's scored 16 away goals, the third most behind Harry Kane (17) and Jamie Vardy (21) – however, he is yet to score an away goal on a Saturday in seven attempts.

The 31 year old becomes the third full-time captain under Unai Emery, and the ninth of the Emirates Stadium era.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

FOXES IN FORM

Leicester go into the game six points ahead us in third place, with seven wins in their last nine league outings. They are the second top scorers in the league, having netted at least twice in each of their seven wins this season, including a joint Premier League record 9-0 triumph over Southampton last month.

However, when failing to score more than once, Leicester are winless in their last 13 Premier League matches, since beating Everton 1-0 in January.

The Foxes have won each of their last four home games in the league, and have triumphed on our last two visits to the King Power Stadium.

Jamie Vardy scored in both of those games, and has netted eight goals against us in his past eight appearances, including three braces.

He went into this weekend on top of the Premier League scoring charts with 10 goals from his 11 games.

Vardy

BATTLE AT THE TOP

We have taken just one point from the last nine available, meaning we go into the weekend six points adrift of the Champions League qualification places.

Leicester currently occupy one of those places, and we need to improve our record against high-flying teams if we want to start reducing the gap on Saturday.

We've not won any of our past 11 away games against sides who started the day in the top three, taking just three points from a possible 33 since January 2015.

After 11 games last season we had taken 23 points, compared to 17 this term – victory this weekend would be a major boost prior to the international break.

Traditionally November has been a tricky time for Arsenal. But last season was the first time we had remained unbeaten throughout the month since 2005, and although we haven't lost so far this month either, we have lost leads in both games – in fact we have surrendered leads in our last four games in a row, conceding injury-time equalisers on our last two away trips.

Lacazette

MIDFIELD ENERGY

Leicester's James Maddison is sure to be on a high after receiving an England call-up on Thursday (as did left back Ben Chilwell) and Maddison is likely to be at the heart of the hosts' attacking plans this weekend.

Michael Cox of zonalmarking.net highlights how he fits in to the Foxes' system. "Brendan Rodgers sticks to a 4-3-3 system with Leicester, which usually features both James Maddison and Youri Tielemans tucked inside as ‘number 8s’ in midfield. Sometimes he’s been more cautious by moving Maddison to the left and introducing more physicality in midfield, but recent results suggest he’ll continue with his Plan A.

"The positioning of Maddison and Tielemans causes opponents serious problems - they often pop up between the lines simultaneously and combine before attempting through-balls for Jamie Vardy. Both can shoot from range, too."

Maddison
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