City On The Sofa Talking Points: Dealing With Arsenal & Finding Composure
- Steve Walsh, Gerry Taggart and Matt Elliott all starred on Tuesday’s episode of City On The Sofa
- The former Foxes watched on as Leicester City claimed a 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium against 10-man Arsenal
- Jamie Vardy cancelled out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s first-half opener
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang handed Arsenal a 1-0 lead in the first period before goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was called into action on several occasions in quick succession, keeping the Foxes in the game.
After the interval, Eddie Nketiah’s dismissal, and a change in stratagem from Brendan Rodgers, saw City gain a foothold in the game before they went on to equalise thanks to Jamie Vardy’s 22nd goal of the 2019/20 Premier League season.
City got back into it
Gerry Taggart said: “After the first 15 or 20 minutes, I thought: ‘If we get away with a point, we’ve done brilliantly’. But in that second half, even when Arsenal had 11 men on the pitch, Leicester were coming back into it anyway. Obviously, Arsenal going down to 10 men helped Leicester massively, but sometimes, you can get frustrated as the attacking team trying to break a 10-man team down.”
Dealing with Arsenal’s attack
Matt Elliott said: “On reflection, all things considered, it was a decent point and a good performance, especially when you consider it looked quite perilous in the first half. Despite Leicester playing reasonably well, it was about dealing with that three-pronged attack from Arsenal. [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, [Alexandre] Lacazette and [Bukayo] Saka are as sharp as anyone you see.”
A terrific contest
Steve Walsh said: “It was a terrific contest. I think Mikel Arteta will be relieved that they’ve got a point out of it in the end because we are disappointed, as I’m sure the lads are. If they’d have pushed it a little bit more in the latter stages, they could have forced that winner, but it wasn’t to be.”
A positive second-half
Gerry Taggart said: “By the end of that team, there was only going to be one team that could go on to win it. The manager (Mikel Arteta) even stuck a midfielder on up top and it was all about clinging on in the end for Arsenal. You have to say, it was a good point, but more importantly, the performance tonight, especially in that second half, was fantastic.”
Praise for Schmeichel’s efforts
Matt Elliott said: “Credit to Leicester, because midway through the second half, they came to terms with the threat that Arsenal posed. That takes some doing, to be fair, because they got a little bit of a run around at times defensively. Kasper Schmeichel was in wonderful form, as he has been of late, and the longer the game went, the more the tide turned.”
Finding our composure
Steve Walsh said: “When you look back at the game overall, you thought Arsenal would run riot after the first 15 or 20 minutes. We were all over the place at the back, we found that composure and three quarters of the game belonged to us – there’s no doubt about that. It's frustrating to be doing everything right, and then one or two bits of composure were missing. Overall, it’s a good point when you look at it.”