EPL 2018/19 -Arsenal v Leicester City - Three things the Gunners must do right

Arsenal will host Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium in a Monday Night football clash at the Emirates. Unai Emery has definitely added new life to the Gunners, and the results are beginning to show.

The Gunners have won all their Premier League games since their defeat to Manchester City and Chelsea in the opening two games of the season, occupying the 5th position behind their North London rivals Tottenham and trailing by 3 points, although Spurs have played a game more. The Gunners will leapfrog them and be back in fourth if they defeat Leicester and will have a better goal difference by scoring at least 2 goals tonight.

On the other hand, the Foxes are currently lying 11th on the table and they have endured a topsy turvy start to the season, with the latest setback,being their 2-1 loss to Everton at home before the international break. So they will be desperate to get something out of the game.

Arsenal will need to be wary of the threat they pose. Let's take a look at three things the gunners must do to see off Leicester.

Jamie Vardy (r) ,James Maddison (centre) is joined by Mendy to celebrate their victory at Newcastle earlier this season

#1 The threat of James Maddison and Jamie Vardy

James Maddison was signed from Norwich City as a replacement for Riyad Mahrez, who departed for Manchester City. The attacking midfielder is definitely one of Leicester's potent weapons.

He has been one of the Premier League's shinning stars this season and must be watched closely and marked because of his ability to shoot from long-range. He is also a threat from set-pieces, too, scoring a sublime free-kick against Huddersfield, and assisting Harry Maguire’s headed goal against Newcastle via a corner-kick. Arsenal must be disciplined to avoid giving needless freekicks and corner kicks in the final third.

Jamie Vardy is not a stranger to the Premier League and most importantly, to the Gunners. Vardy has scored 6 goals in six starts against the Gunners, including scoring twice in last season's opening match.

#2 Arsenal must be fast-starters

Arsenal are yet to go into half-time with a lead in the Premier League this season. In all competitions this season, Arsenal have scored 29 goals, but just a miserly nine of those goals have come in the opening 45 minutes.

This is an issue Unai Emery discussed in his pre-match interview with Arsenal.com. He said: "We are starting the matches maybe with less intensity than we want and it’s one thing we need to get better at in the next matches and the first is against Leicester."

Leicester are a team that could hurt the Gunners with the first few chances of a game, so it is very important that the Gunners work very hard at dictating the pace of the game and not giving the opposition any kind of hope. If they can do this, they will definitely win games more comfortably and by wider margins as well.

#3 Arsenal must avoid giving many chances away

In most games this season, Arsenal have been slow starters as identified above. This has led to them conceding too many chances to the opposition. Against Everton and Watford, they could have easily been 2 nil down at halftime.

Even in away games such as at Cardiff and Fulham they also were sloppy at times, giving balls away too many times to the opposition, inviting pressure. The team needs to work on this, especially playing a mid-table opposition like Leicester, who, on their good day, can score as many goals that they create.

Emery himself admitted this and this is what he had to say.

“I think we need to improve a lot. I think we have to continue doing a lot of things to get better. Our demands need to be very high. The supporters can enjoy it with us but also we’re speaking with our reality every day.

If we are remembering the last match at the Emirates [against Watford], we won but not playing like we want, with the control against the opposition."

Hopefully they will continue to improve and win more convincingly earlier in games.

Edited by Gabby Duran