Arsenal moves to fourth place in the Premier League after an unconvincing victory against the rock bottom side Leicester City. The win helped Arsenal to get over the disappointment of Saturday's north London derby defeat. Yet another loss for the Foxes piles more pressure on Leicester's manager Nigel Pearson.
Arsenal started the game brightly, and quickly got themselves a two-goal cushion as German international playmaker Mesut Ozil's blast near post corner was met by French centre-half Laurent Koscielny, 29, who lost his marker Wes Morgan to volley home from close range.
This had given Arsenal the opening lead in the 27th minute.
Later, Ozil also contributed to Arsenal's second, when his fizzed shot from 25 yards was only parried to Theo Walcott, 25, by the Foxes veteran goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, 42, who fired in the volleyed rebound low in the bottom corner. World-Cup winner Ozil made his 50th start for the club and had 88% of his passes completed, which was telling as he dominated Leicester in the final third of the pitch.
The Foxes rallied in the second half, and their £9 million record signing Andrej Kramaric scored his first goal in English Football, with a low shot in the corner from 12 yards in the second phase of a corner. The Croatian international, former Rijeka striker, was then denied again by Arsenal's goalkeeper David Ospina, 26, who blocked his effort when he was clean through on goal late on.
Kramaric, 23, will be rueing his missed chance to give his side the point they deserved, after being the better side for large periods of the match.
It was an eventful four days at Leicester, who gained promotion to the Premier League last May. Their manager Nigel Pearson was involved in a bizarre touchline episode with Crystal Palace's James McArthur at the weekend's home loss to the Eagles.
The 51 year-old sat in the stands, and joked around with the Thai club's owner, but both men will still be concerned as the club have stayed bottom of the league since late November.
As the scores stood, Arsenal now displaced Manchester United and moved into the top four in the Premier League, a feat they have managed for 17 consecutive seasons under Arsene Wenger. Leicester are now five points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League.
