Dramatic Finishes & Defining Moments – Classic Arsenal Clashes
Ahead of Saturday’s 3pm kick-off at King Power Stadium, the latest instalment of a fixture with plenty of history, we delve into the archives to recount iconic meetings with the north London side…
Leicester City 3 Arsenal 3
27 August, 1997
Filbert Street
Premier League
Filbert Street hosted one of the truly great games between the Foxes and the Gunners at the beginning of the 1997/98 season, as Martin O’Neill's Foxes twice came from behind late on to snatch a draw.
Arsenal struck first with Dennis Bergkamp’s sublime curling effort nestling into the far, top corner. It was a classy finish to fire Arsène Wenger’s men in front with just nine minutes on the clock and Bergkamp grabbed his and Arsenal’s second on the hour-mark.
Patrick Vieira placed a first-time cross into his path and the Dutchman took a touch to move the ball into the box and then flicked it past Kasey Keller, via a deflection.
The points appeared to be heading back to the capital, but when substitute Garry Parker’s cross caused confusion in the Arsenal backline, it allowed Emile Heskey to tap home into an empty net. Hope of an unlikely late revival was growing.
As the game moved into injury-time, a hopeful, aerial ball fell to Matt Elliott on the edge of the box. He unleashed a low drive into the bottom corner - it was suddenly all square at 2-2.
The Blue Army’s belief soon evaporated thanks to a jaw-dropping piece of skill from Bergkamp, controlling the ball in mid-air with his right foot, flicking it past Elliott with his left, taking one more touch to settle himself and then manoeuvre it into the far corner.
Incredibly, City once again showed their powers of recovery, even deeper into added time. Parker’s corner found Steve Walsh, who played a headed one-two with Spencer Prior before nodding in the latest of late equalisers.
City’s captain had helped pull off one of the most unbelievable double-comebacks in Premier League history, with four goals in the last six minutes and three in stoppage time. Few top-flight games have provided so much entertainment.
Leicester City 2 Arsenal 0
9 November, 2019
King Power Stadium
Premier League
Leicester claimed three consecutive home victories over Arsenal between May 2018 and November 2019. A 3-1 win at the end of the 2017/18 season was City's first win in 23 Premier League meetings – a run that stretched back to November 1994.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s opener edged the hosts ahead on Filbert Way, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s second-half equaliser levelled the scores. Jamie Vardy’s penalty moved the Foxes back ahead with a quarter of an hour to play and Riyad Mahrez confirmed the three points would be staying in Leicestershire late on.
Almost a year later, as the 2018/19 campaign neared a conclusion, the Gunners returned to King Power Stadium. Vardy was at it again, netting a late brace – his second an eighth league goal against Arsenal in as many games - to secure a 3-0 win for Brendan Rodgers’ men, following Youri Tielemans’ opener. City’s No.9 also reached the milestone of 100 league goals for the Club in the process.
The Foxes had now won consecutive home league games against Arsenal for the first time since 1983, but were not done there. Later on that same year, but now into 2019/20, a Leicester side brimming with confidence put Unai Emery’s side to the sword.
Goalless at the break, the game soon came to life. After missed chances at each end, a sumptuous Leicester move was finished off by Vardy. Demarai Gray picked up possession on the right, finding Ricardo Pereira, whose low cross was cleverly flicked into Tielemans’ path by Harvey Barnes. The Belgian laid off Vardy to find the bottom corner. 1-0.
Ricardo had a hand in City’s second, too, receiving possession from Wilfred Ndidi and opting to pick out Vardy in the box. Without space for a shot, he teed up James Maddison to hit a first-time strike into the same corner that his team-mate had found a little over five minutes earlier. The points were sealed.
Arsenal 0 Leicester City 1
25 October, 2020
Emirates Stadium
Premier League
With Premier League matches being played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no travelling supporters in the stadium to see their Leicester City side make history in the capital. It was perhaps the only downside to a memorable evening.
Leicester were juggling Premier League commitments with UEFA Europa League group matches, though manager Rodgers had made just one change to the side that beat Zorya Luhansk three days earlier.
Arsenal thought they had taken the lead on four minutes, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tapped home Alexandre Lacazette’s flick-on, but it was disallowed for offside – a decision confirmed by VAR. Bukayo Saka also had an opportunity, forcing Kasper Schmeichel into his first save of the game on 21 minutes.
Maddison, meanwhile, created two opportunities early in the second half, seeing an audacious lob saved by Bernd Leno, before his deflected strike flew wide of the target a minute later.
Vardy, fit enough to be named on the bench following a calf problem, was then introduced on the hour mark, creating a focal point for the Foxes. And after a fine stop from Schmeichel kept out Hector Bellerín’s volley, it was City’s No.9’s time to shine.
With 10 minutes to play, Vardy combined with fellow substitute Cengiz Ünder, whose off-the-shoulder run saw him latch onto Tielemans’ ball into the channel before the Turkey international’s first-time pass found Vardy to head City in front.
The former England international had clinched a first away win over Arsenal since 1973. It was well worth the 47-year wait and remains Leicester’s last victory over the Gunners.
Propelling Rodgers’ side up to fourth in the Premier League table, having collected 12 points from their opening six 2020/21 fixtures, this was a fine start to a campaign which would end in a fifth-place finish, securing further European participation the following season.