On Monday night, in the last game of round nine of the Premier League, Leicester City travelled to the Emirates Stadium in London to face Arsenal. Arsenal were in excellent form, having won six out of the last six games, while Leicester won only two and lost four out of their last six matches.
Both the striker Kelechi Iheanacho and the midfielder Wilfred Ndidi were starters for Leicester City. The Foxes were aggressive right from the kick-off; Iheanacho had two chances in the first two minutes. His first attempt was deflected for a corner while the second one was saved by the Arsenal goalkeeper. Leicester should have had a penalty in the 18th minute but the referee waived it off. But, Leicester’s efforts were rewarded in the 31st minute when Bellerin deflected a shot by Chillwell into his own net.
But, just before the break, Mesut Ozil managed to equalize for Arsenal. In the second half Arsenal were better and two quick goals by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, in the 63rd and the 66th minute gave the Gunners a win with a final score of 3:1.
Ndidi played the full 90 minutes while Iheanacho was replaced by Marc Albrighton in the 61st minute.
Wilfred Ndidi (www.lcfc.com)
Super Eagles star Ndidi was visibly disappointed after the match. In an interview after the game, he mentioned two occasions that had a big impact on the final result. First, he talked about the penalty that wasn’t given. Rob Holding clearly handled the ball but the referee didn’t give it. What’s more, Holding received a yellow card a minute before this incident. Had the penalty been awarded, Holding might have received another yellow card giving the Foxes a one-man advantage for the rest of the match. But nothing happened.
The second incident was the chance Ndidi had himself. After Arsenal started the stronger in the second half, Leicester were mostly on the defensive. But, in the 57th minute, they were awarded a corner. Ndidi rose for a nice header but the ball hit the crossbar. The Nigerian feels that this too could have changed things for them if the ball had gone in.
Nevertheless, he was critical of his team in the end, saying that, even though they played well in the first half, they didn’t carry on in the second half. He said that his team will need to work on the second half performances.
Wilfred Ndidi has played all nine games for Leicester City this season and is yet to be substituted. The Foxes are in for another hard match, this time at home, where they welcome West Ham.