Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal: Player Ratings as Gunners down Foxes in third round | EFL Cup 2020-21

Arsenal beat Leicester City 2-0 at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday night, to qualify for the fourth round of the League Cup. Both the goals came in the second half, with a Christian Fuchs own-goal putting the Gunners ahead, before Eddie Nketiah made sure of the win late in the game.

Brendan Rodgers made 11 changes from the side that beat Burnley last weekend, while Mikel Areta made seven. Bernd Leno, Rob Holding, Bukayo Saka and Sead Kolasinac were the only players to play this game, who also started in the 2-1 win over West Ham last weekend.

Leicester had a couple of chances at some stages, but were largely pedestrian, and definitely second best on the night.

Here's how each player fared for both sides.

---

Leicester Player Ratings

Danny Ward - 4/10

Ward was very uncertain with the ball at his feet. He could have nearly given a goal away with a kick straight to Willock in the second half, but was bailed out by Chowdhury. He also could have done better for the first Arsenal goal, by pushing Pepe's first shot out of the danger zone.

Daniel Amartey - 5/10

The Ghanaian was largely steady against Nketiah and Nelson, but he was a little too weak for the second Arsenal goal. Nketiah easily bundled him over to slot the ball in the net.

Wes Morgan - 6/10

Morgan made one heroic clearance off the line, with a great header that he got under. That aside, he was pretty strong against Nketiah as well.

Christian Fuchs - 5/10

It was his miscued header that saw Pepe get away from the Leicester defence in the buildup to the first Arsenal goal.

Marc Albrighton - 6/10

Put in a peach of a ball early in the game that Iheanacho should have done more with. He was a lot more subdued after that one moment, though.

Hamza Chowdhury - 7/10

He was probably the best Leicester player on show on the night. He was excellent with his positioning to get a foot in, to stop Arsenal attacks. His passing was also tidy.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - 6/10

The youngster was tidy with his passing, and looked very composed in possession. He could have had an assist on his first start forLeicester, but Maddison's shot eventually cannoned back off the post.

James Maddison - 6/10

In his first start for the club after hip surgery, Maddison had a few bright moments, even though the rustiness was evident. He was very unlucky when a superb shot had Leno standing still, but hit the woodwork.

Luke Thomas - 6/10

The youngster was eager down the flank, and got into some very decent areas of the pitch, only for his teammates to not find him accurately enough. Pepe gave him a tough examination, but his defensive skills did come through more often than not.

Demarai Gray - 4/10

He really failed to have any impact on the game. His pace and skills were hardly on show tonight, and he didn't really manage to link up with Iheanacho either.

Kelechi Iheanacho - 4/10

Like Gray, Iheanacho made no case for himself to be starting more regularly in the more important competitions. He missed a big chance early in the game, and everything he did on the pitch got progressively worse, as time went on.

Substitutes

Dennis Praet - 6/10

He replaced Maddison, and brought more control and possession for Leicester in midfield, but it was not something that the Foxes could do much with.

Ayoze Perez - 4/10

He was presented with a golden opportunity, when Albrighton whipped a perfect free-kick onto his forehead. The Spaniard, though, put his header well wide of the mark.

Arsenal Player Ratings

Leicester City v Arsenal - Carabao Cup Third Round

Bernd Leno - 6/10

Made a very good early save to deny Iheanacho. After that, Leicester did not test the German at all.

Rob Holding - 6/10

Holding stuck to his task really well, against the pace and trickery of Gray. He gave the winger no space to run in behind, and that nullified a lot of the Leicester threat.

David Luiz - 7/10

Luiz fronted up to Iheanacho really well. He took responsibility in winning the one-on-one duel with the Nigerian striker, and that served Mikel Arteta's side really well.

Sead Kolasinac - 6/10

Kolasinac really didn't have too much to do. Leicester really didn't get into too many penetrative areas, even if their passing within their own half was neat and tidy.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles - 6/10

Maitland-Niles linked up rather well with Pepe, while also defending well against the threat of Luke Thomas down the Leicester left.

Mohamed Elneny - 6/10

He didn't waste a pass, and kept Arsenal on the move. On the contrary, he also didn't take too many risks, and that meant Arsenal really couldn't build much through their midfield.

Joe Willock - 5/10

If Elneny was safe and secure, Willock was the same, but with a few careless errors thrown in the mix.

Bukayo Saka - 6/10

He went forward and got into some really threatening positions. But unlike Saka generally, he couldn't make the ocrrec decisions in the final third in this game.

Nicolas Pepe - 6/10

Pepe was the chief catalyst for Arsenal's first goal, with his pace, trickery and persistence, eventually dragging the ball over the line through Fuchs's feet. For the rest of the game, he saw a lot of the ball, but struggled to create too many meaningful opportunities out of it.

Reiss Nelson - 7/10

He was Arsenal's brightest player for most of the game. He ran at Amartey, and got the better of him a few times. He'd wish that his shooting boots were on tonight though.

Eddie Nketiah - 6/10

He got himself his second goal in as many games for Arsenal, and that was just reward for some hard graft that the youngster put in on the night.

Substitutes

Willian - 5/10

He didn't really see much of the ball in attacking areas to bring his strengths into play.

Dani Ceballos - 5/10

These were just more minutes in the leg for Ceballos, with tougher fixtures looming large.

Hector Bellerin - 7/10

Bellerin played only the last five minutes or so, but his persistence and desire eventually enabled him to get an assist, as he set up Nketiah's goal.