Arsenal travel to Leicester City this weekend in a match that they really need to win if they want to keep their Champions League ambitions alive.
As things stand, the Gunners are 11 points adrift of West Ham in fourth, while opponents Leicester are four points ahead of them in third. Therefore it’ll take something special to close that gap on those above across the remaining 13 league matches of the season.
Even if the Champions League positions do prove a step too far, Mikel Arteta will be hoping he and his side can at least secure a place inside the top six which is perhaps a bit more achievable.
They’ll be hoping this weekend’s fixture can kickstart a good run of results, but the Foxes won’t make it easy for them and they’re enjoying an impressive campaign so far under manager Brendan Rodgers.
They’re currently level on points with Manchester United in second and were at one stage looking likely to be key players in this year’s title race, albeit the form of Manchester City has changed that landscape somewhat.
But their capacity to accumulate so many points is not only down to possessing good players, but also having a manager able to get the best out of them.
Despite building his reputation as a coach who favours a possession-based approach going back to his early days at Swansea, Rodgers has most definitely evolved during his stints with Liverpool, Celtic and now at Leicester.
Under his guidance, the Foxes will regularly adjust their set up ahead of matches depending on things like players available and the strength of the opposition. The below highlights the different formations used by the Champions League chasers throughout the season so far.
Not only will Rodgers make adjustments before matches, but he will also often make subtle changes in a match too, finding solutions to questions posed by opponents. It’s something James Maddison referenced in his post-match interview back in January following Leicester’s 2-0 win against Chelsea.
"Credit to the manager, we had a little switch at half-time to go to a 4-4-2 out of possession, whilst staying 4-4-3 in it and it worked, (we do) just little things like that, thinking on our feet," he said.
This ability to overcome adversity in fixtures sheds light on one of Leicester’s best assets this season, their capacity to score late in matches.
As highlighted above, the Foxes have scored the most Premier League goals (15) in the final 15 minutes of league matches so far this season.
Notably, Arsenal have managed just two in this period of the match, which is the joint lowest total in the league alongside relegation favourites West Brom.
This does tie in with the fact that Mikel Arteta tends to be more rigid in his approach, rarely deviating away from the tactics that the team started the match with.
Leicester’s ability to adapt and mount pressure late on is something that Arsenal will have to remain fully focused and aware of, after all, it was a late strike by Jamie Vardy that proved the difference between the two sides when they met at the Emirates earlier in the season.
