Leicester City host Arsenal on Sunday afternoon looking to extend their gap in third place to the chasing pack and finish the season strongly in a UEFA Champions League position.
Following their disappointing defeat to Slavia Prague on Thursday night which saw them bow out of the UEFA Europa League, Brendan Rodgers will be desperate for his team to put the disappointment of that defeat behind them and finish the season strongly.
If the Foxes pick up all three points on Sunday, it will be the first time since the 1973-74 season, that Leicester have done the league double of the Gunners, having won 1-0 at the Emirates back in October.
Today though we look back at the last time the Gunners visited the King Power Stadium in the Premier League.
The Foxes were flying high in the league and went into the game sat third place only behind Liverpool and Manchester City. They had won their past three games including that historic 9-0 win away to Southampton.
The Gunners were having quite the opposite time the Foxes were having. They started the game in sixth place and were without a win in three games. Losing away to newly promoted Sheffield United and drawing back-to-back home games against Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Cracks were starting to show in manager Unai Emery’s squad and questions were slowly starting to be asked of the Arsenal manager.
Could the former PSG and Sevilla manager put a stop to the party that was happening in the East Midlands under Brendan Rodgers? Or could Jamie Vardy and co put more pressure on the Spaniard?
Frustrating Half for the Foxes
It was clear to see by Emery’s team selection that his plan was to sit back and soak up the Leicester pressure before hitting them on the counterattack.
Having gone with five at the back whilst also playing with two defensive midfielders, it was obvious that Emery was relying on Mesut Özil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette to get him goals.
From the first whistle to the last Leicester dominated. They were defensively solid and apart from a shot from Lacazette in the 20th minute, Arsenal failed to register a shot on target for the whole game.
Leicester had a number of chances in the first half, but Arsenal’s defensive stood strong and frustrated the home side.
A misplaced pass from Hector Bellerin was intercepted by fellow countryman Ayoze Perez who was left in acres of space, but the Spaniard could only fire the ball over the bar.
James Maddison also came very close to opening the score when a freekick on the edge of the box didn’t come down quick enough and only hit the roof of the net.
Jamie Vardy starts the party again
The second half started the same way the first half finished. Arsenal sat deep and defended well, frustrating the Foxes.
Wilfred Ndidi added to Leicester’s chances as he was unlucky not to score smashing the cross bar from close range.
But the Foxes kept coming and finally got their reward after 68 minutes when who else, but Jamie Vardy fired home for his 11th goal of the season.
The former England International was somehow left unmarked in the Arsenal box as a ball across goal from Youri Tielemans wasn’t met by a single Arsenal defender before reaching the feet of Vardy who had the whole goal to aim at.
The stadium erupted and the floodgates were now open.
Seven minutes later, Leicester got their second as Maddison beautifully placed the ball through the legs of Bellerin into the bottom corner past goalkeeper Bernd Leno and putting Leicester out of sight.
It was no more than the Foxes deserved and the win took them to second place with Manchester City losing to eventual champions Liverpool the next day.
The win showed the rest of the league that their shock title win back in 2015-16 was no fluke, and that this Leicester side who were showing a new exciting identity under Brendan Rodgers was a forced to be reckoned with.
If the game on Sunday shows any of the exciting football Leicester showed that day, then supporters are in for an exciting afternoon.