Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal | 5 Talking Points | Carabao Cup 2020/21
In recent years, only Manchester City have treated the Carabao Cup as a major competition. However, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta looks set to follow in the footsteps of his mentor by using this competition to make a statement. As for Brendan Rodgers, he’s still searching for his first trophy as Leicester City manager and the Carabao Cup offered him his best opportunity yet.
After a tightly contested first half, Mikel Arteta’s men took the lead in scruffy fashion as Christian Fuchs fumbled the ball into his own net. The lead put Arsenal firmly in the ascendancy and they rounded off a fine-tuned performance with an Eddie Nketiah tap-in in added time. The win sees Arsenal progress to the fourth round where they will face the winners of the game between Lincoln City and Liverpool.
Here are five talking points from Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Leicester City.
#5 Reiss Nelson’s chance
Reports in the past few days suggested that the Gunners are looking to send Reiss Nelson out on loan this summer. With Willian, Nicolas Pepe &and Bukayo Saka all ahead of him at right wing, it is tough to see where the 20-year-old could get minutes this season.
Mikel Arteta himself said that the youngster had been training well and that he had to be ready when an opportunity arose. Against Leicester City, Nelson got his chance to show the boss his worth.
The youngster looked bright and sharp in his touches, often showcasing blistering pace and tidy touches. In his display, the 20-year-old completed 93.5% of his passes, attempted 2 shots, completed 2 dribbles and created 1 chance.
#4 Leicester City make 11 changes against Arsenal
Based on the team Brendan Rodgers put out against Arsenal, it’s clear where Leicester’s priorities lie. The Foxes boss made 11 changes from the team that beat Burnley 4-2 on the weekend.
Rare starts were given to the likes of Christian Fuchs, Daniel Amartey, Danny Ward and Luke Thomas. Rodgers used this tie as an opportunity to give fringe players a runout and see if they could challenge for first-team places. Unfortunately, none of them gave Rodgers any kind of selection headache.
Leicester had 49% possession, 2 shots on target and only 1 corner kick in a game where they created minimal clear-cut chances. Arsenal also made a lot of changes, seven from their win against West Ham, meaning they also had a lot of fringe players involved but still managed to win.