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Arsenal travelled to The King Power Stadium to take on a shockingly out of form Leicester side which was thrashed by Crystal Palace 5-0 before losing at home to a terribly inconsistent West Ham unit.
Arsenal, meanwhile, had managed to put some of the gloss back on their performance by dismantling Burnley 5-0 in Wenger's last home game as manager. Therefore, what occurred on the night was unexpected as the hosts put themselves in the lead and were then handed a numerical advantage as Mavropanos wrestled the goalscorer Kelechi Iheanacho to the ground and was adjudged to have been the last man.
What followed was roughly 80 minutes of high-octane Premier League football with Leicester running out 3-1 winners in a match filled with chances, goals and cards. Here are the talking points:
#5 Arsenal threw the game away in a matter of seconds
The Gunners started the game with great intensity and looked like a side that meant business. They pressed from the front, moved the ball around quickly (something they haven't done in any away game this season) and were neat and intricate in their build-up.
Then, rather all too characteristically, the visitors presented the hosts the chance to go ahead. Leicester obliged. The former Manchester City forward putting his side ahead after Diabate put the ball back across goal.
It was only going to get worse for the North London side as Arsenal found themselves a goal down and almost right from the restart, a man down.
#4 Iheanacho with an early goal and a different sort of assist
The former Manchester City man hurt the Gunners almost as much as his former side did in the EFL Cup final a month ago when Arsenal were put to the sword by the Cityzens.
The Nigerian landed a sucker punch on the away side, after Arsenal had dominated the early proceedings, to volley the ball adeptly from a looping header back across goal.
Things went drastically downhill moments later as Konstantinos Mavropanos hauled Iheanacho to the ground, pulling his shorts. The referee decided he was the last man and gave the young defender his marching orders.
From that moment on, the whole complexion of the game was altered and Leicester had the Nigerian to thank for the goal, and for forcing the rookie into the error.
#3 At the risk of sounding repetitive, boy is that Arsenal back-line horrendous
After personally covering most of the Arsenal matches this season, I'm pretty sure I sound like a broken record but how do we not address that inept defensive unit of Arsenal Football Club. Someone should, considering Wenger hasn't. And won't.
The days of Sol Campbell and Tony Adams and Martin Keown have been replaced by the dark nights of Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers and Rob Holding. Arsenal were without their captain Laurent Koscielny, but such has been the dismal form of even the Frenchman this season that we're not sure that he wouldn't have made things worse.
First thing on the to-do list for the new manager is to get the defensive aspect of things back into order. A self-inflicted red-card and the task was insurmountable once again for Arsenal.
Arsenal have failed to pick up a single point on the road this calendar year and the defence has to take the bulk of the blame for that.
#2 Jamie Vardy plays against Arsenal, Jamie Vardy scores against Arsenal
The whole saga involving the Leicester goal-scorer and the visitors seems like a long time ago, when Arsenal tried their utmost to charm the Englishman to move to the Emirates. Vardy resisted and then went on to poke fun at the Gunners by claiming that moving to the Emirates would be a step-down for the forward.
Therefore, every time this fixture comes around, this sub-plot is always one to watch out for. Despite getting on the score-sheet against the Gunners in each of his last 6 appearances, the Englishman has never ended up on the winning side in any of the games.
This time though, Vardy got the goal, from the spot, and the points to cap off an impressive night for the Foxes as they finally managed to see off an Arsenal side after remaining winless in the previous 23 encounters.
#1 One of the games of the season as Arsenal remain without an away point in 2018
With the biggest teams in action: Barcelona thrashing Villarreal 5-1, Real losing to Sevilla 3-2, Juve winning the Coppa Italia final against AC Milan 4-0, Huddersfield holding Chelsea at home to stay up in the league, few would've expected Leicester and Arsenal to play out the belter that they did.
Leicester have been short on confidence owing to recent results. Arsenal, similarly, can't for the life of them win a point on the road at the moment. So even we expected this fixture to be very cagey.
However, an early goal and a red card left both teams with little options but to go for it. Leicester piled on the pressure and it took all of the towering Petr Cech to keep them at bay. Arsenal meanwhile had to try and get back on level terms and they looked to break at every chance they could.
All this meant that you couldn't take your eyes off the game for even a second. 34 attempts on goal in the game in total, 4 stunning goals and a red card. What more could you ask for?
