Leicester City vs Arsenal. Premier League.
The King Power StadiumAttendance32,008.
Saturday 20 August 2016 10:54, UK
Leicester and Arsenal will both be looking to recover from opening day defeats when they meet at the King Power Stadium on Saturday evening.
The defending Premier League champions suffered a shock 2-1 loss at newly-promoted Hull while Arsenal were beaten 4-3 at home by Liverpool.
The Foxes, however, have been boosted by the news in midweek that Riyad Mahrez has signed a new four-year deal.
Last season's PFA Player of the Year had been linked with a move to Arsenal, but has committed his future to Leicester.
"We have very good players," said manager Claudio Ranieri. "It's normal for other managers to look at Leicester players. But we want to continue and stay together."
There has been no such pick-me-up for Arsenal after their defeat to Liverpool, although manager Arsene Wenger says the club are "ready to spend" this month. "It's not my money. It's important to spend money the right way," he said.
Arsenal beat Leicester both home and away in the league last season.
Team news
The Foxes have no new injury concerns and Robert Huth could return in defence after serving a one-game suspension.
Aaron Ramsey, Alex Iwobi and Gabriel are all out injured for Arsenal but Wenger has said Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud are in contention.
Granit Xhaka could make his first start having come on as a substitute last weekend.
Jack Wilshere (knee), Per Mertesacker (knee), Danny Welbeck (knee) and Carl Jenkinson (knee) are unavailable.
Opta stats
Leicester are on a 19-game winless run against Arsenal in the Premier League (D6 L13) and lost both games last season.
Arsenal have scored four Premier League hat-tricks against Leicester (Dennis Bergkamp, Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry and Alexis Sanchez), the joint-most against one opponent in Premier League history (Manchester United vs Newcastle also on four).
Arsenal haven't lost their opening two league games since the inaugural Premier League season in 1992/93.
The last time the reigning top flight champions lost their first two league games was in 1981-82 (Aston Villa).
Claudio Ranieri will be looking for his 100th Premier League win as a manager in this game.
Paul Merson's prediction
Arsenal have to win this match. People will say there are still 36 games left after this, but you can't afford to fall six points behind. Come the end of the season, playing catch-up takes its toll.
It's a similar story for Leicester because you don't want to start off as champions and lose your first two games. No one had ever lost their first game as champions, and if you then lose your next, all of a sudden your momentum has gone.
This is a big football match and I think there will be goals. Last season, Wes Morgan and Robert Huth blocked every shot they jumped in front of, and I don't think that will happen again.
Arsenal can't defend, we know that, so I'm going for a score draw.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-2 (Sky Bet odds 11/1)
