Leicester v Arsenal tips, odds, betting preview & TV details

TV: Sky Sports Premier League, midday Sunday

Leicester looked up for the fight when coming from behind twice to draw at West Ham last week and another dose of determination and desire might be all it takes for the Foxes to take care of Arsenal.

Unai Emery was supposed to be getting rid of Arsenal's soft underbelly but it’s still very much there and is impeding their chances of snatching a top-four spot in the Premier League.

Just when the Gunners had got themselves into the box seat for a Champions League place they suffered back-to-back defeats to Crystal Palace and Wolves, and the manner in which they capitulated was as dismal as it was predictable.

Wolves, particularly, appeared far hungrier than an Arsenal side who looked as though they were running on empty but were in fact just playing at their own, sedate pace. Arsene Wenger may have gone but the ghosts of the past remain.

Arsenal sit in tenth place in a Premier League away table and are clearly uncomfortable with a busy schedule which has them playing twice a week because of Europa League commitments. The next fixture in that competition is Thursday’s semi-final first leg against Valencia.

Leicester have no such distractions so they can give the London side both barrels in their own battle to finish seventh.

Bookmakers can hardly split the pair at the King Power Stadium but punters should side with the team who look as though they are up for the scrap and, based on recent efforts, that is Leicester.

The Foxes have improved no end under Brendan Rodgers with one defeat in their last six, an inexplicable slip against Newcastle.

Last time out they were gutsy at West Ham, twice trailing and twice hitting back through goals from Jamie Vardy and Harvey Barnes. Arsenal have played twice in the eight days since Leicester left the London Stadium.

Leicester have lost eight times at home this season but most of those reverses were in the dark days under former manager Claude Puel.

Rodgers is getting far more out of Vardy, James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and one or two others than Puel ever did and that must be encouraging approaching his first summer at the club.

Emery, meanwhile, will be hoping that 19-goal top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang recovers from a sinus operation if only because that decreases the likelihood of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil being on the pitch at the same time. Gifted though the pair of them are, they are still luxuries in a league in which grafting counts for plenty.

Aaron Ramsey, one of the few natural leaders in the Arsenal dressing room, will definitely be missed.

This is a fixture that tends to produce goals – both teams have scored in ten of the last 12 league showdowns – and neither defence looks trustworthy.

Bet on this game at Soccerbase.com

Recommendation
Leicester
1pt 17-10 bet365, Betfair, Betway

Team news
Leicester
Daniel Amartey is Leicester’s only absentee. Wes Morgan is available after missing the last match for personal reasons.

Arsenal
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is expected to recover from a sinus operation but Aaron Ramsey is sidelined. Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck are long-term absentees.

Key stat
Arsenal have kept just two clean sheets in their last 27 Premier League away games, a sequence spanning 16 months.

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