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2022/23 English Premier League
Matchday 25
Leicester City v Arsenal
King Power Stadium
Leicester, England
Saturday, 25 February 2023
Kick-off is at 17h00
Premier League leaders Arsenal will be looking to build on their first win in three games when they face Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, February 25.
The Gunners bounced back from a disappointing run of results earlier this month as they beat Aston VIlla 4-2 at Villa Park last Saturday to go two points clear of Manchester City at the summit.
The Citizens relinquished top spot after being held to a 1-1 draw by Nottingham Forest, while Manchester United closed within three points of their neighbours in third position with a third win in four outings.
Tottenham returned to the top four courtesy of a 2-0 victory over West Ham, with Newcastle dropping to fifth place after losing 2-0 to Liverpool.
Image copyright: Getty Images
The Foxes saw a three-match unbeaten run come to an end as they slumped to a 3-0 loss at Old Trafford last Sunday, having recorded back-to-back wins against Villa (4-2) and Spurs (4-1) prior to that.
Brandon Rodgers' side aren't quite safe yet after a 13th defeat of the season left them just four points above the relegation zone in 14th spot.
The East Midlands outfit are three points clear of Everton (16th) and Bournemouth (17th) and one ahead of Wolves (15th).
Harvey Barnes is just one goal shy of equalling his best league haul in a season, having found the back of the net eight times in 21 appearances. The 25-year-old winger was denied his ninth goal by an outstanding save from United goalkeeper David de Gea, which would have tied him with James Maddison as joint-top scorer.
Bukayo Saka is enjoying another productive campaign at the Emirates Stadium, with his goal against the Villans making it nine in 23 league games this term. The 21-year-old winger is just three goals short of eclipsing his best-ever tally of 11 achieved in 2021-22.
In team news, the hosts remain without James Justin (leg), Ryan Bertrand (knee) and Jonny Evans (thigh), while Gabriel Jesus, Mohamed Elneny (both knee) and Thomas Partey (back) are set to miss out for Mikel Arteta's team once more.
Rodgers admits improvements can be made at both ends of the pitch after feeling that all three of United's goals could have been prevented, while the Foxes weren't able to take the chances that came their way.
"There's always disappointment at the elite level of the game when you've been competitive and you lose. We've shown we can hurt teams in these last few games. We had the opportunities today, but we didn't quite take them," he told LCFC TV.
"But we'll go again, have a good week's training, we'll analyse the areas that could have been better because we gifted them goals really. All three goals were preventable. We give the ball away in the first one and, the third one, we could be better positioned."
Arteta believes the Gunners are showing title-winning qualities after they scored twice in second-half stoppage time to defeat Villa.
"At some stage you're going to have to win games in the 94th minute or the 96th minute. You're going to have to score from set-plays, you're going to have to score when you're down to 10 men.
"It's about winning in any context. We always talk about that and today we had a really difficult context, especially with what happened after five minutes.
"The team showed a lot of emotional qualities which are needed to be up there. I'm really happy with that."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Leicester - 1
Arsenal - 4
Draws - 0
Premier League fixtures - matchday 25:
Friday, February 24
22h00: Fulham v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Saturday, February 25
17h00: Everton v Aston Villa
17h00: Leeds United v Southampton
17h00: Leicester City v Arsenal
17h00: West Ham United v Nottingham Forest
19h30: Bournemouth v Manchester City
21h45: Crystal Palace v Liverpool
Sunday, February 26
15h30: Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea
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