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Home   >   Match   >   [Player ratings] Leicester 1-3 Arsenal: Willian & Pepe shine for on-song Gunners

[Player ratings] Leicester 1-3 Arsenal: Willian & Pepe shine for on-song Gunners

By on February 28, 2021

nicolas pepe arsenal

Arsenal produced an excellent performance to come from behind and beat Leicester City 3-1 at the King Power this afternoon.

We started poorly once again and fell behind in the 6th minute when Youri Tielemans was allowed to burst into the box unchallenged to give Leicester the lead after Granit Xhaka had lost possession. Pablo Mari and Mo Elneny both should have done more to close the Dutchman down.

However, Arsenal responded well and levelled things up in the 39th minute when David Luiz headed home from a Willian free-kick and we were then given a great opportunity to take the lead just before half-time after being awarded a penalty for handball in the area. Alexzandre Lacazette made no mistake to make it 2-1 to Arsenal.

It wasn’t long before we made it 3-1 as Nicolas Pepe tapped home from close range shortly after the break following a wonderful move that involved Martin Odegaard and Willian. Arsenal controlled the second half and secured a deserved 3-1 win to move us above Tottenham into ninth place in the table.

Here are my player ratings:

Leno  6/10 | Didn’t get near the Tielemans goal but made a few routine saves after that.

Cedric  7/10 | Solid performance. Got forward to support the attack when he could and did his defensive work well enough. He has to be seriously pushing Bellerin now.

Luiz  7.5/10 | Lovely header to score a vital equaliser and defended well throughout. Made some important blocks and kept Vardy reasonably quiet.

Mari  6.5/10 | Should have done much more to close Tielemans down for their goal but was otherwise decent. It’s nice to have plenty of centre-back options these days.

Tierney  7/10 | Proved his worth to the team once again with another good performance. Always a threat down the left flank.

Xhaka  7/10 | Gave away possession for the Leicester goal but was otherwise excellent in midfield. Controlled the game.

Elneny  6.5/10 | Typical Elneny. Kept things simple with no-risk football – but should have closed down Tielemans.

Pepe  8/10 | Another excellent display. Was confident on the ball and always looked to drive at the Leicester defence to make things happen. Great to see him in much good form right now.

Smith Rowe  6/10 | Fairly quiet afternoon before being forced off with a knock just before half time. Has looked tired recently so this injury was inevitable.

Willian  8/10 | Finally put-in a terrific performance. The Brazilian set-up two goals and looked a different player to what we’ve seen from him in recent months. Fair play, let’s hope he keeps it up.

Lacazette  7/10 | Hold up play was good as he linked-up with the likes of Willian and Pepe. Stuck away his penalty well.

Subs:

Odegaard   7/10 | Such a lovely player to watch. Silky touch set-up the third goal.

Partey   6.5/10 | Got more minutes late on to help build up his fitness.

Aubameyang   6.5/10 | Almost grabbed a late fourth with a shot that flashed wide.