Puny Gunners desperate to field more firepower @Matt_barlow_dm
In A stadium named after a company built on duty- free shopping, Arsene Wenger watched two points disappear while weighing up the value of one final dash to the tills before the gate closes.
At the King Power Stadium there was no late goal from Arsenal as there has been twice already this season, and no one stepping up to support the manager’s theory that he has the strike options to survive the long haul.
Alexis Sanchez was on target with his second goal in five days to put the visitors ahead but the lead lasted only two minutes.
Leonardo Ulloa quickly levelled for Leicester, who proved they are ready to compete in the Barclays Premier League. nigel Pearson’s team were aggressive, committed and dangerous on the break as they were roared on by a boisterous home crowd.
They are yet to win and they conceded long spells of possession to the visitors but they have taken two points which may be vital from a tough trio of fixtures against Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal and supporters filed out feeling positive about the campaign ahead.
‘We didn’t feel particularly threatened,’ said Pearson, and Wenger agreed his team had lacked creativity and sharpness while overcomplicating their approach play.
Arsenal are yet to find any fluency this season. They needed a winner in stoppage time to beat Crystal Palace on opening day and a late equaliser by Olivier Giroud, before he suffered the injury which will rule him out until the new year, at Everton last week.
Still, Wenger remains reluctant to make a hasty call on signing a new centre forward when he has Sanchez, Yaya Sanogo, Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell.
Sanogo started up front but with little joy other than to assist with the opener in the 20th minute, when Leicester allowed Arsenal too much space around their penalty box.
Aaron Ramsey rolled a square pass to Santi Cazorla, who scooped the ball forward. Sanogo turned and poked an unconvincing effort at goal and, as Kasper Schmeichel sprang from his line to block the shot, the rebound spun to Sanchez, who crashed it in from close range.
Two minutes later, Leicester were level when Laurent Koscielny misjudged Jeff Schlupp’s cross from the left and Ulloa applied a firm header to beat Wojciech Szczesny with his second goal of the season.
Wenger attributed the goal to Koscielny, who he said was uncomfortable after suffering a cut in an accidental clash of heads with Schlupp when the game was still goalless. Koscielny went off to have the wound tended but continued to have problems.
‘If he wasn’t injured, we wouldn’t have conceded the goal,’ said the Arsenal boss. ‘He was not concussed. He was cut on the top of his head. Maybe he didn’t feel comfortable heading the ball after that.’
Koscielny came off soon afterwards, although he will be fit by the time his team are back in action, against Manchester City on Saturday week. There were other injury scares for the Londoners, one of which will concern England manager Roy Hodgson. Alex OxladeChamberlain hobbled off at the end and Mesut Ozil went down after twisting his right ankle and immediately signalled to be replaced before realising three substitutes had already been used.
Both Ozil and Oxlade-Chamberlain soldiered on but Arsenal found no way through Leicester’s defence.
Ulloa was guilty of missing the clearest chance to win the game early in the second half, when he twisted clear of Calum Chambers inside the area and deceived Szczesny only to clip his shot into the side-netting.
‘He will be disappointed not to finish that one,’ said Pearson. ‘But it was super skill from him and he’s proved already he has the capability to perform at this level.’
Ulloa was untidy at times but physical and made life awkward for Arsenal’s central defenders. In many ways he typified what Leicester did well. They surrendered much possession but unsettled Wenger’s team on the break and kept going to the end.
Szczesny saved from Jamie Vardy in the closing stages and Danny Drinkwater fizzed a low drive wide.
As ever, it was Ramsey who drove Arsenal on, seemingly the only one able to inject any urgency into the passing sequences. Even so, he failed to take advantage when Cazorla picked out one of his forward runs and clipped the ball on to his head. Ramsey seemed caught between going for goal and nodding down towards Sanogo.
In the end, he headed tamely at Schmeichel, who also saved at full stretch from Sanogo, a striker whom Wenger conceded had seen his confidence hit by the 17-game wait for his first competitive Arsenal goal.
‘If you play up front and you don’t score it’s very quickly a problem,’ said Wenger. ‘He did find it very hard, and he didn’t score. Yes, it is on his mind, of course. He is a striker.’