Premier League Arsenal

Arsenal rally to avoid another opening defeat

Arsenal started the new Premier League season having won just one of their previous five opening matches - all of which were also home fixtures.

In the build-up to Friday's game Wenger repeatedly stressed the importance of beginning with a positive result against Leicester - and the Gunners appeared to have listened to their manager as they made the dream start.

Lacazette, who arrived for £45,6m from Lyon, was perfectly placed to take advantage of Wes Morgan misjudging Mohamed Elneny's cross, flicking in a low header to become the fastest-scoring debutant in Premier League history The joy did not last long, however. Leicester exploited sloppiness by the Gunners to go ahead, leading to murmurings of discontent among the home crowd.

Arsenal's failure to finish in the top four of the Premier League for the first time in 20 years last season, not to mention the criticism Wenger has received from some sections of the Gunners support, meant the Frenchman could ill-afford to begin with a defeat.

And the mood ebbed and flowed inside the Emirates - with some of the familiar grumblings of discontent evident.

The atmosphere turned dark among the home fans after Vardy's first, the audible anger subsiding when Welbeck calmly rolled in Saed Kolasinac's cut-back, only to return again when Vardy restored the Foxes lead.

Wenger looked on anxiously from the dugout, eventually appearing on the touchline when he introduced Ramsey and Giroud after 67 minutes.

Within 20 minutes both players had scored - and the mood completely changed - as Arsenal avoided losing their opening fixture for the fourth time in five years.

Positives for Leicester to take

Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare talked in his pre-match interview about the Foxes knowing their counter-attacking strengths and trying to use them to good effect against Arsenal's "fashionable" back three.

That is exactly what they did.

The visitors particularly found joy down the flanks, exposing the Gunners' familiar defensive failings through Vardy's sharp movement and quick balls forward. Their rapid breaks were reminiscent of their title-winning side of two seasons ago, as was their clinical finishing: the Foxes scored with each of their three efforts on target.

Unfortunately for the 2015-16 champions, it was their own lapses of concentration which could not keep Arsenal out at the other end.

Led by captain Wes Morgan and new signing Harry Maguire, Leicester remained resolute in the second half until Arsenal's pressure eventually told.

"Scoring three goals away from home is a positive and we'll get back on the training field to make sure we sort the problems out," said Vardy, who turned down a move to the Gunners last summer.

Arsenal just love playing against Leicester...

This was only the sixth time that an opening game in a Premier League season has seen seven goals scored - no game has seen more
Arsenal are now unbeaten in 22 Premier League games against Leicester City - winning 15 and drawing seven - and they have won 11 successive Premier League home games against the Foxes
Alexandre Lacazette scored with his first shot (and second touch) as a Premier League player
The last player to score a goal faster on their Premier League debut was Thievy Bifouma, who came on for his Premier League debut for West Brom at half-time and scored after just 36 seconds in a 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace in February 2014
Lacazette is just the seventh player to score on his Premier League debut for Arsenal, after Kevin Campbell, Steve Bould, Fredrik Ljungberg, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri and Thomas Vermaelen.
Jamie Vardy has now scored five goals in his last five Premier League appearances against Arsenal