Leicester City of England duo of Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho were both in action from the start against visiting Arsenal, but their tam fell apart at King Power Stadium, with their often reliable holding midfielder given away a penalty for one of The Gunners’ goals in a 3-1 away win.
Also in the EPL on Sunday, Fulham defender, Ola Aina played only 45 minutes of his side’s English Premier League clash away to Crystal Palace, who had Eberechi Eze on from the start but was replaced close to the end of the encounter that ended goalless at Selhust Park.
While Josh Onomah was benched for the duration of play, Tosin Adarabioyo, Josh Maja and Ademola Lookman all played 90 minutes for the visitors, Aina appeared to have suffered an injury that forced him off at half time, while Eze was replaced in the 79th minute of play by the hosts.
That was a huge highlight in an encounter Eze’s side failed to dominate and, against all pre-match forecasts they toiled against a surprisingly resilient Fulham side, but The Cottagers’ EPL survival hopes remained in tatters with the barren draw on Sunday.
Megasportsarena.com reports that the five Nigerian players in Scott Parker’s side arrived at Selhurst Park knowing a win would move them to within just a point of Newcastle United and Brighton Hove Albion, who both failed to win on Saturday.
However, despite dominating, the visitors failed to find a way past Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita, although the draw did move Fulham to within three points of safety, while Palace stayed 13th in the table.
It was a sorrier story at King Power Stadium, though, as Iheanacho and Ndidi’s efforts could not save Leicester Ciy from falling 3-1 at home against Arsenal, who had Bukayo Saka on their bench from the start.
While Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho were both on from the start for the hosts, Arsenal produced another fightback as three goals in 17 minutes either side of half-time gave them victory and stopped The Foxes from moving up to second place on the log.
Youri Tielemans put Leicester ahead in the sixth minute with a good finish into the bottom left corner, thanks to some wide-open, poor Arsenal defending, but the visitors levelled through David Luiz’s clever header from a Willian free-kick
VAR had earlier correctly denied Arsenal a penalty for Ndidi’s nudge on Pepe, just outside the box, but the two were involved again as Pepe’s shot struck Ndidi’s hand in the box, spotted by the video assistant ref, thereby allowing Alexandre Lacazette to score from the spot.
Pepe’s shot was blocked by the outstretched arm of Ndidi in the box, which was initially not spotted before referee Paul Tierney and VAR David Coote intervened, before Lacazette converted to put The Gunners on a roll.
Leicester made four changes from the midweek defeat by Slavia Prague; Castagne, Pereira, Barnes and Iheanacho came in, replacing Amartey, Under, Choudhury and Albrighton, were are all on the bench, both The Foxes fell apart when it mattered most.
