Arsenal scrape win over relegation threatened Leicester

After a demoralising defeat to North London rivals Spurs at the weekend, it was important for Arsenal to get back to winning ways. A home game against Leicester, who are rooted to the bottom of the Premier League was exactly the game we needed in order to bounce back. We did indeed return to winning ways as Koscielny and Walcott scored in a 2-1 victory. It was far from comfortable and Leicester were the better side in the second half. The Gunners were brilliant in the first half and had the visitors taken some of the brilliant chances they had, it may well have been a very different game. The Gunners were far from their best and it was an extremely poor performance against a side that we should've comfortably beaten considering the two team's positions in the League. Nevertheless, the win brought us back into the top four with Man United to play tonight, and Tottenham's defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.

Theo Walcott was on hand to score Arsenal's second

Both sides came into this game needing a win, Arsenal for the sake of a top four place, and Leicester in terms of their battle for survival. Indeed it was Arsenal who came out on top despite the visitors best attempts to frustrate. They set up with five at the back, which made it hard to break them down in the first half. Our struggles to break them down were only exacerbated by Alexis Sanchez who picked up a knock and consequently was substituted later on in the second half. The Chilean was miles off his game and that made our play in the final third slower than we would've liked. However, we did go into the break with a 2-0 lead, after the Leicester defence switched off on two occasions.

The first goal was to come from the boot of Laurent Koscielny. Mesut Ozil, the stand out performer on the night swung the ball in from the corner and the French defender was there with a free run to find the back of the net. The defending was sloppy from the visitors but for a defender it was a composed finish from Koscielny. Ozil was at the heart of the second goal too. The German let fly from outside the box and Schwarzer could only palm his swerving shot straight to Walcott. Theo then got ahead of the defender to fire home brilliantly. Both Walcott and Ozil have been in good form since returning from injury, particularly Ozil who is finally showing why we brought him to the club.

Ozil now has four assists and three goals since his return, a fantastic run of form and long may it continue. Most of his appearances since returning have been on the left wing, and since bulking up he's looked a lot more comfortable in that position compared to when he was weaker before his injury. He did however drift into more central roles in the first half of the game yesterday evening.

What was to happen in the second half was something that not many would've predicted. From this position we should have gone on to score a few more in a bid to boost the goal difference. However Nigel Pearson changed his game plan, and rightfully so. In the first half they were willing to play on the counter and soak up the pressure we put on them. In the second they looked to get at us. Mahrez down the right hand side had proved to be extremely dangerous, causing problems when he ran at both Mertesacker and Koscielny. Arsenal's rhythm from the first half had clearly been unsettled.

Our shape just completely disappeared and the defence seemed to panic whenever they got on the ball. The same problem occurred during Saturday's defeat to Spurs; we couldn't keep the ball. The team in the second half lacked balance and the defence left themselves wide open on too many occasions. Against a more clinical opponent we would've been punished. In a sense we were lucky to win. The goal with which we conceded from was extremely poor. We failed to clear our lines in the penalty area and as a result the ball landed to Kramaric who found the back of the net through a crowd of players.

The lackadaisical defending in front of David Ospina clearly unnerved him. In the games in which he kept clean-sheets he looked solid when called upon. I'm not saying bring Szczesny back but it's no coincidence that our keepers look shaky whenever the defence starts to panic. Ospina seemed to panic himself and came for balls he didn't have to. Szczesny is likely to start against Middlesborough in the FA Cup at the weekend but who starts in goal for our next league game could be interesting.

As can be seen the game was littered with negatives that should not have occurred against the opposition we were against. No disrespect to Leicester but they are bottom of the table and our performance should have been a lot better. I am perhaps making it out that we lost but we did win and it was hugely important to move back into the top four for the time being. Aaron Ramsey's injury just 10 minutes after he came on didn't help either. It seems that whenever we get players back new ones pick up injuries. Something clearly needs to be addressed because it keeps happening season after season.

The team's line-ups:

Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Walcott(73), Rosicky, Ozil, Sanchez(67).
Subs: Szczesny, Gabriel, Gibbs, Flamini(82), Ramsey(73)(82), Welbeck, Giroud(67).

Leicester: Schwarzer, Simpson, Morgan(80), Huth, Upson(59), Konchesky, Cambiasso, James, Mahrez, Schlupp(86), Kramaric.
Subs: Hamer, Wasilewski(59), Drinkwater, King, Albrighton, Ulloa(80), Nugent(86).

My man of the match: Mesut Ozil.

Referee: Mike Jones.
Attendance: 60,032.