As full-time approached, a rainbow appeared directly above the corner populated by Arsenal’s travelling contingent. Their club is a step closer to the pot of gold that has eluded it for 19 years and the unusual facet of this narrow win was its sheer mundanity. Nobody could argue with the outcome but nor could they expect to be reeling this from the list of memorable afternoons if Mikel Arteta and his players get over the line in May.
While the away fans were bathed in colour, they were surrounded by pockets of empty blue seats long before the end. Leicester put in a show of basic defensive doggedness but little more: they offered virtually nothing in attack and at no stage did a venue that once jubilated in glorious overachievement show any belief in a comeback. They had one shot in the entire game, a long-range effort from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall that flew wide in the 72nd minute, and Arsenal could depart having operated well within themselves.
They could also be spared a feeling of grievance, having raged at the chalking-off of a first-half Leandro Trossard goal and the subsequent failure to award them a penalty after Harry Souttar appeared to foul Bukayo Saka. It felt fortunate for everyone bar the hosts that Gabriel Martinelli bent in a finish that counted 52 seconds into the second period; further obligation to privilege the pitfalls and otherwise of VAR, and officials in general, would have meant offering yet another disservice to the sport itself.
Arteta seemed to agree and was happy to bask in a winner of, by the game’s standards, rare incision. Trossard had been selected ahead of Eddie Nketiah and his role as a strictly nominal No 9 was crucial: the Belgian’s driftings out left, so that Martinelli could forage inside, were a feature from the opening moments and their combination proved decisive. When Gabriel Magalhães aimed a long pass down the left for Trossard to latch on to, Martinelli made an underlapping run that his teammate located with a cute nudged pass. There was still work to do but, wrapping body and right foot around the ball, he found Danny Ward’s far corner with a low, snaking shot.
Martinelli took a fearful whack from Wilfred Ndidi, who was trying in vain to prevent the shot and caught him on the follow-through, in scoring but showed no ill effects after lengthy treatment. The concerned pause while he took assistance from the physios was about as hairy as things got for Arsenal even though Brendan Rodgers called upon Jamie Vardy, historically a near-guaranteed thorn in their side, for the final half-hour.
This was not Arsenal at their most intense or creative but they still felt worthy of a lead at half-time. They thought they had it when Trossard, teed up by Granit Xhaka, took two touches before whipping past a static Ward from 18 yards. The celebrations were lengthy but curtailed when, after consulting his pitchside monitor, the referee, Craig Pawson, took VAR’s cue to decide Ben White had been holding Ward’s right arm while his left hand punched a corner out to Xhaka. Replays showed the decision to be correct but in real time it would have taken prodigious eyesight to spot White’s offence in a congested six-yard box.
Souttar’s hauling-down of Saka as the pair contested a White cross shortly afterwards seemed clearer cut but nothing was awarded or retrospectively checked. At that point Arteta might have considered the same kind of pre-prepared broadside he aimed in the fallout of Arsenal’s controversial draw with Brentford a fortnight ago. Trossard’s effort may have been correctly disallowed but, if that were the bar applied, surely a spot kick was merited here.
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The opening half petered out after that, although it had barely warmed up beyond sequence after sequence of Arsenal interplays that were thwarted by stout defending. Leicester had thrilled in putting four past Spurs in their last home game, and troubled Manchester United last time out before being picked off, but with James Maddison laid low by a bug they completely lacked spark. Rare counters led by Harvey Barnes or Tetê came to little, the former crossing just beyond the latter after Martinelli’s clincher in a fleeting moment of promise.
Arsenal could have added to their lead but Ward parried from Oleksandr Zinchenko, who was made captain for the day in a mark of respect for Ukraine a year after Russia’s invasion, and was able to repel a free header from Gabriel that should have given him no chance.
Their threat dialled down towards the end, the latter stages rendered a virtual non-event by stoppages and substitutions. That is an increasing theme throughout the leagues. Arsenal and Arteta could not have cared less: this was as trouble-free as things get and their bounty moves closer into view.
