FA Premierleague 

Arsenal 2 (Partey 11, Lacazette 59)

Leicester City 0

MIKEL Arteta’s young side brushed past Leicester City to strengthen their grip on the Champions League fourth spot.

A powerful header from Thomas Partey and a spot kick from Alexandre Lacazette saw the Gunners go one point ahead of Manchester United with three games in hand.

Aaron Ramsdale made a superb save, Martin Odegaard pulled the strings in midfield and Partey put in a big shift.

The win – the fourth in a row in the league – was not great to watch but the points were important ahead of the visit from Liverpool on Wednesday.

Leicester were put under relentless pressure from the kick off and the visitors looked leggy after their latest Europa League match against Rennes.

The Gunners meanwhile look strong and fit and seem to be benefitting from not wasting time playing endless fixtures in the unloved competition.

They were rampant for the first 20 minutes and should have gone at least 2-0 up with Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka causing havoc on both flanks. The passing was simple, accurate and effective.

Partey angled in a powerful header from Martinelli’s corner and minutes later the midfielder struck the crossbar with a Messi-like curling strike from just outside the box.

The second goal came from the spot after VAR took an age to check a handball with the crowd going mad about the delay.

Finally, Anthony Taylor was called over to the monitor to see Caglar Soyoncu’s hand glancing the ball after it was headed toward goal.

The defender was booked and Lacazette smashed in the penalty high above Kaspar Schmeichel, who had dived the right way.

It was not all plain sailing though with Arsenal looking disjointed for the last 15 minutes of the first half.

Despite the early dominance, the side seemed to fall apart as Leicester passed around freely.  Ben White made a potentially goal saving challenge after a scramble in the box.

Fans love Aaron Ramsdale and each week and he seems to set the tone with no-nonsense play. His massive punch-out when Leicester had began to fightback in the first half got a huge cheer.

He made a brilliant diving save as the pressure started to build and the visitors looked like they might equalise. These moments from Ramsdale – which seem to happen in every game – are as important as goals.

There was lively pre-match applause in solidarity with Ukraine and also loud support for taking the knee against racism.

Former central defender and one-time Arsenal captain, Oleg Luznhy, was named in the squad, taking number 22 on the back of the programme.

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tierney, White, Gabriel, Soares, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Martinelli (Rowe 76), Saka (Pepe 86), Lacazette (Nketiah 87)

Subs not used: Leno, Holding, Tavares, Lokonga, Elneny, Swanson.

Leicester City: Schmeichel, Soyuncu, Barnes, Maddison, Albrighton, Iheanacho (Daka 73), Amartey, Pereira, Dewsbury-Hall, Mendy (Justin 60), Thomas.

Subs not used: Jakupovic, Tielemans, Perez, Choudhury, Vestergaard, Ndidi, Lookman.