Full time: Leicester City 0-0 Arsenal
A draw is probably the right result overall, though Leicester should certainly have had a penalty in the 88th minute. Koscielny and Drinkwater were superb, and Mahrez produced four or five moments of genius. Thanks for your company, goodnight.
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90+3 min Drinkwater’s free-kick hits his own man King, and that’s the end of the match!
90+2 min Mahrez almost wins it for Leicester with a brilliant run and shot that is saved by Cech! The rebound comes to Musa, who can’t decide whether to shoot or pass and ends up doing neither. Leicester keep the ball alive and Holding is booked for clattering Ulloa in the D. The free-kick might be the last kick of the game.
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90 min There will be three added minutes. The game is suddenly wide open.
89 min Yep, that should have been a penalty; there was a tangle of legs and Bellerin clearly fouled Musa.
88 min The substitute Musa dupes Bellerin superbly on the left and breaks into the box before going over as Bellerin challenges him from behind. That looked a penalty, but Mark Clattenburg disagreed.
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86 min Leicester bring on Ahmed Musa for the excellent Albrighton.
83 min The outrushing Schmeichel makes a fine save to deny Ozil, who tried to slide it past him from a narrow angle after an excellent pass from Sanchez. Arsenal are well on top now thanks to the probing of Ozil and especially Wilshere.
80 min WIlshere’s dangerous low cross is hooked clear by Simpson, an important intervention at the far post, and moments later Morgan makes a superb sliding block from Walcott’s low shot. I think that was going in.
78 min An old man is carefully applying some kind of cream to Olivier Giroud’s nipples, which can mean only one thing: he’s about to replace Oxlade-Chamberlain.
76 min “Dodginess of provision has denied me Leicester-Arsenal moving images for a while, Rob,” says Charles Antaki. “But your comments suggest that the game has had a bit less incident than Barcelona 6-2 Betis. Perhaps Giroud ought to come on and change all that?”
75 min Ozil introduces himself to Fuchs with a delicious Cruyff turn on the right. That starts a move that ends with Walcott shooting fairly tamely at Schmeichel with his left foot.
73 min A double change for Arsenal, with Wilshere and Ozil replacing Xhaka and Cazorla. Xhaka played well on his full debut.
70 min Vardy misses an excellent chance! Albrighton robbed Xhaka and put Vardy through in the inside-right channel. He scooted into the area but sliced his shot wide of the near post from eight yards. He was under pressure from Koscielny, who got back superbly, but he should at least have worked Cech.
69 min Sanchez runs onto a long pass down the right, and Schmeichel hares out of his box to clear the danger with a diving header that goes out for a throw-in.
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68 min Arsenal earn a corner on the left. It’s cleared and Leicester break through Mahrez, who tries a killer pass to Vardy that is intercepted by the last man.
67 min A Leicester substitution: Okazaki off, Ulloa on, with instructions to enliven this muck.
66 min “It’s a game that needs a goal,” says the BT Sport commentator Darren Fletcher. He is not wrong.
63 min Leicester have had much more possession since half-time, and look the likelier scorers. Mahrez is starting to do good things with the ball.
58 min Oxlade-Chamberlain lofts an inviting pass back to Bellerin, whose rising half-volley from 25 yards is comfortably patted down by Schmeichel. It was a lovely strike but too straight.
57 min Drinkwater wins a corner for Leicester, who are having an excellent spell. Albrighton’s outswinging corner is headed away by Walcott, who thus reminds us that he’s on the pitch.
55 min The sublime Mahrez beats Coquelin with a stepover and is taken down just outside the area. Coquelin, already booked, is pretty lucky not to be given a second yellow. Mahrez curls the resulting free-kick just over the top, though Cech had it covered.
52 min Mendy comes back on and goes straight down. His game is over, and he could be out for a while as that looks like a ligament injury. That’s a sad way to end his league debut. Andy King comes on to replace him.
51 min Mendy is being helped towards the touchline. He wants to continue so the physios are testing out his leg while play goes on.
49 min Mendy gets his foot stuck as he intercepts a pass and goes down in considerable pain. That could be ligament damage; it looked pretty nasty and Andy King is being readied.
48 min Vardy hunts down a backpass to Cech, who calmly beats his man with a dragback. People are just openly ridiculing Joe Hart now.
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47 min A reminder that both teams have some lively options from the bench, including Musa, Ozil, Giroud and Gray. We can only hope one of them might do something.
46 min Peep peep! The second half is under way. As it stands, both teams are five points behind the Manchester clubs. Has Claudio Ranieri taken Leicester as far as he can?
“Wenger is more like the Beatles,” says Tom Murdock. “Ten years of glorious, unprecedented success, followed by tragedy, mediocrity and thoughts of what might have been.”
So which player is the Frog Chorus?
“Arsene Wenger is the Rolling Stones of football management in England,” says Justin Kavanagh. “A revolutionary start bringing a whole new style from abroad, followed by a glorious peak of success, then the long, slow decline into predictable if respectable economic success. Claudio Ranieri on the other hand, is Leonard Cohen, currently enjoying a miraculous second coming.”
So which one’s Wilson Phillips?
Some half-time reading
Half time: Leicester 0-0 Arsenal
Both sides worked very hard and did many good things. But in terms of old-fashioned entertainment, that was a dreadful half. See you in 10 minutes.
44 min Howard Webb on Snapchat thinks Koscielny got the ball when he tackled Drinkwater. It’s not entirely clear on the replays, so you can at least understand why Clattenburg didn’t give it. I thought it was a penalty. More importantly for lovers of all things beautiful, the pass from Mahrez was glorious.
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42 min Leicester might have had a penalty then. Mahrez put Vardy through on goal with the most ingenious angled pass from the right touchline. Cech came from his line to dive at Vardy’s feet, a superb interception; then Drinkwater followed up and seemed to be clearly tripped by Koscielny. Mark Clattenburg disagreed.
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40 min A couple of important defensive headers from Koscielny, who has been excellent thus far.
38 min Oxlade-Chamberlain combines well with Alexis and roars past Simpson on the halfway line. Arsenal eventually recycle possession five or six times before Xhaka welts a long-range shot well wide.
35 min This game is, in the parlance of our time, boring.
33 min “I’d like to name things that WILL affect Wenger’s reputation when we’re all done here: years 11-20 of his tenure at Arsenal,” says Robert Wilbanks. “You’re welcome.” All those top-four finishes; it’s a wonder he can sleep at night.
31 min Cazorla almost scores with a booming free-kick from the left wing. It beat everyone and bounced up towards the far corner, but Schmeichel was alert enough to dive to his left and push it behind for a corner.
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28 min Vardy shows outrageous pace to make good Drinkwater’s overhit pass. He plays it back to Albrighton, whose cross is cleared.
27 min I wonder how much BT paid for this match. Unless it was less than 50 pence, they probably aren’t getting value for money.
26 min A lovely effort from Oxlade-Chamberlain, who moves infield from the left, away from Mahrez, before curling just wide of the far post from 20 yards.
25 min “Last season’s champions being held at home without much penetration by either side,” says Charles Antaki. “Yes, it’s Barcelona 1, Betis 1. But desultory switching between games suggests that the football in one is a little more entertaining than in the other.” I hate football.
24 min Coquelin is booked for a foul on Vardy.
23 min Here’s Mike Gibbons. “Other things that won’t affect Arsene Wenger’s reputation when we’re all done here - collections of the oxymoronic ‘best tweets’ that succinctly banter his team selection and tactics during games, and the ‘is the camera on me yet?’ faux outrage on Arsenal TV.”
I don’t understand why coverage of football, as compared to other sports, is so bloody infantile.
22 min Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up when something happens.
20 min Arsenal are pinning Leicester in their half, though their domination is of the sterile variety.
17 min Morgan makes a crucial interception from Bellerin’s low cross; Walcott was waiting behind him with an open goal. That said, it wasn’t the best cross from Bellerin, who had an angle to take Morgan out of the game and still find Walcott.
14 min It’s all bit a frantic at the moment. Hey, men, slow down.
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12 min Albrighton volleys a good long pass to Mahrez, who beats Monreal with ease but then overhits the cross.
Sounds like Leicester fans are singing: "Jamie Vardy is a blue, he hates Arsenal." Hey ho...
— Amy Lawrence (@amylawrence71) August 20, 2016
9 min A long spell of possession from Arsenal yields the square root of bugger all.
7 min The pattern of the game is as expected, with Arsenal dominating possession and Leicester playing on the counter.
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5 min “95,000 summer rooms £35 or less,” writes Travelodge. “Why not visit the UK’s friendliest places.”
3 min Drinkwater passes the ball straight into touch. He’ll never make a goalkeeper.
2 min A lively start, this. Sanchez’s shot is blocked, and Cazorla’s 25-yard follow-up deflects wide for a corner.
1 min Arsenal, in yellow, kick off from right to left. Football! Vardy wins a corner after 16 seconds with an aggressive run at Koscielny.
There’s a great atmosphere in the stadium, with a striking, pop-art ‘CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND’ banner behind one of the goals. Leicester, champions? Yes, it really, really, really did happen.
Pre-match reading
Team news
Leicester (4-4-2) Schmeichel; Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Mendy, Albrighton; Okazaki, Vardy.
Substitutes: Hernandez, Musa, King, Amartey, Zieler, Gray, Ulloa
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Holding, Koscielny, Monreal; Xhaka, Coquelin; Walcott, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Alexis.
Substitutes: Ospina, Gibbs, Wilshere, Giroud, Ozil, Chambers, Elneny.
Preamble
Hello. Here’s where we’re at: Leicester and Arsenal, the top two last season, meet in the second game of the new season knowing that, if they lose, they will probably be deemed to be in crisis. It’s an insane, offensive state of affairs, indicative of a game that has not only lost touch with reality but deliberately ostracised it. If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s now put the dullards in charge of the debating society!
Arsenal, in particular, need a result or they and Arsene Wenger are in serious danger of being overwhelmed by the brattish entitlement of their more extreme and narcissistic fans. Things aren’t so serious for Leicester but you don’t an A-level in England Studies to know that the people of this country like to play Jenga with their sportsmen.
If you step away from the hot air it’s possible to recognise that Leicester are immortal and Arsene Wenger is the best thing that ever happened to Arsenal. In the long term, the result of a match in August isn’t going to change that.
Kick off is at 5.30pm.
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