GUNNERS’ AWAY DAZE GOES ON AT FOXES
JAMIE VARDY returned to haunt Arsene Wenger on his farewell tour as Leicester cruised past ten-man Arsenal. The Gunners could still end the season pointless away from home in 2018 after Vardy netted his sixth goal in his last six games against Wenger to help condemn them to defeat. Kelechi Iheanacho opened the scoring in the first half just 92 seconds before Konstantinos Mavropanos was dismissed for the visitors. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did level but Vardy’s penalty and Riyad Mahrez’s late goal settled the game, leaving the Gunners with the same away record as relegated West Brom ahead of Sunday’s finale at Huddersfield. Victory at least eased some of the growing pressure on Leicester manager Claude Puel, but it was just the Foxes’ fifth win in 20 Premier League games. Vardy said: ‘Ahead of the game, we wanted to make sure we were passing the ball forward instead of keeping it at the back, and we have done that tonight. ‘It was important to take some momentum into next season and it was our first win against Arsenal since our return to the Premier League. ‘The last penalty I took against Petr Cech, I went the other way, so I thought I would change it up.’ Arsenal keeper Cech said: ‘After we conceded the first goal, we went down to ten men and we had nothing to lose, so we tried to play. ‘You have two options after you lose a player — you can either defend your box and wait for an opportunity, or try and take the game to your opponent. ‘We know we have the quality to create and score goals, which we did, but their second goal killed the game.’ When asked about Arsenal’s shocking away form in the league during this year, Cech added: ‘Well that is 2018 over, so everybody better be ready for autumn.’