Martinelli strike secures all three points for the Gunners at Leicester

Leicester City 0

Arsenal 1 (Martinelli, 46)

Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points with a well-deserved 1-0 win at the King Power Stadium thanks to Gabriel Martinelli’s goal just after half-time.

Martinelli slotted past Danny Ward on 46 minutes after Leandro Trossard slipped in the Brazilian following Gabriel’s long pass forward.

The Gunners were well worth their win, and despite a bit of a huff and puff from the Foxes towards the end, held on for the victory.

Arsenal started on the front foot, Martin Odegaard firing over in the first minute.

Then came two half-chances for the Gunners in the space of a minute. First Jorginho’s superb through ball found Bukayo Saka, who whose shot was blocked for a corner, then Saka fired over when in space on the right.

Arsenal played the ball around with the confidence of a team at the top of the league all afternoon, while Leicester were defending deep.

The Gunners thought they had taken the lead on 26 minutes through Leandro Trossard’s curling shot from outside the box, but VAR intervened and found a foul in the preceding corner.

Then Leicester had the ball in the net through Kelechi Iheanacho, but this time the goal was chalked off for offside.

At this stage Arsenal were passing the ball around with speed but little end product. Martinelli shot over from an acute angle as the clock ticked towards half-time, and 0-0 it remained at the break.

But the Gunners were ahead in the first minute of the second half through Martinelli.

At the other end Tete was inches away from poking in Harvey Barnes’ cross from the left, but Arsenal’s relentless pressing was forcing error after error from the Foxes.

Saka tapped home a centre after 55 minutes, but the assistant correctly spotted an offside in the build-up.

Danny ward then saved from Oleksandr Zinchenko, the Ukrainian made captain in the week of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of his homeland in a nice touch from the Gunners.

At the other end Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall temporarily had Aaron Ramsdale worried, but his shot from distance was wide to the left of the Arsenal goal.

Thomas Partey made a welcome return from injury for Gunners fans, replacing the excellent Martin OIdegaard late on.

And the Gunners held on for another win, to heap more pressure on Manchester City.

Teams:

Leicester: Ward, Faes, Barnes, Iheanacho (Vardy, 62), Souttar, Kristiansen, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndidi (Soumare, 78), Praet (Daka, 78), Castagne (Pereira, 85), Tete (Tielemans, 62).

Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Gabriel, Saka, Odegaard (Partey, 84), Martinelli, Saliba, Trossard (Nketiah, 70), Jorginho Xhaka, Zinchenko (Tomiyasu, 90+3).

Referee: Craig Pawson