Olivier Giroud celebrates scoring the fourth for Arsenal. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters
FULL TIME.
It’s all over and Arsenal have won. On a night the Premier League broke from the traps like a greyhound whose tail is on fire, some inspired substitutions and a huge slice of luck rescued Arsenal from yet another opening day defeat. That was a fantastic game of football.
90+4 min: Wes Morgan is booked. I think that’s the first cuation of the game.
90+3 min: Leicester hurl the kitchen sink at Arsenal, who should not be too discouraged by defeat if they are beaten. They’re defence at set pieces has been as ropey as Arsenal’s, but they’ve played very well otherwise.
87 min:
The corner from which Arsenal scored that goal came about from a corner they got when Kasper Schmeichel made an absolutely fantastic save to tip an ALexandre Lacazette surface-to-air screamer from close range over the bar. Your humble reporter is struggling to keep up here, there’s so much going on! Leicester substitution I haven’t had a chance to tell you about yet: Kelechi Iheanacho on for Matty James. Demarai Gray has just replaced Demarai Gray.
GOAL! Arsenal 4-3 Leicester (Giroud 85)
Incredible scenes! From a corner, Olivier Giroud powers a brilliant header in off the left upright. It bounces behind the line before Kasper Schmeichel can claw it clear.
84 min: You will not see a better first touch than the one with which Aaron Ramsey controlled the ball … oh, hang on!
GOAL! Arsenal 3-3 Leicester (Ramsey 83)
Aaron Ramsey equalises for the Gunners. He’s been excellent since coming on.
80 min: We’ve 10 minutes to go and Arsenal desperately need a goal to avoid hearing the “CRISIS KLAXON” being sounded. If they do lose, it will be interesting to hear if they are booed off … after their first Premier League game of the season. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shoots wide after being teed up by Granit Xhaka.
76 min: The clock ticks on as Leicester travelling fans strike up a rousing rendition of a song about their opposite numbers’ attempts to get behind their team. The lyrics have no place on a family minute-by-minute report, but you can probably guess what they are.
75 min: Arsenal substitution: Theo Walcott comes on for Danny Welbeck, moments after Arsenal Mesut Ozil had fired into the side-netting.
74 min: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sends a low, diagonal drive from distance fizzing just wide of the left upright. It took a nick off a defender on it’s way wide and Arsenal get a corner from which nothing comes.
72 min: Leicester substitution: Daniel Amartey replaces Shinji Okazaki, who has put in his usual Herculean shift and been rewarded with a goal. Leicester needed to shore up their midfield, as Arsenal have been dominating that area of the field since Ramsey came on.
71 min: Mesut Ozil tries to steer the ball inside the foot of the right upright after running on to a Lacazette pull-back from the left side of the penalty area. His effort is blocked.
69 min: The camera cuts to Alexis Sanchez in the posh seats again. He still looks glum, possibly because his very, very bored female companion from the first half appears to have abandoned him.
68 min: Ramsey immediately finds himself in the thick of the action, powering down the centre to get on the end of a cross from the left and head wide. Christian Fuchs did enough to put him off, when he looked certain to score.
Arsenal double substitution: Rob Holding and Mohamed Elneny off, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud on.
64 min: Arsenal are behind, but dominating and creating the better chances. A replay of Vardy’s second goal shows that before Mahrez took his corner, Granit Xhaka was actually pointing at the unmarked Jamie Vardy and then let him run past him and looked on helplessly as the Leicester striker leaped to turn a splendid header inside the far post.
62 min: Another fine save from Schmeichel, who is quick off his line to deny Hector Bellerin, who had
60 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain has a powerful drive blocked by Kasper Schmeichel and Alexandre Lacazette’s follow-up is ruled out by offside.
59 min: Hats off to Riyad Mahrez too, whose delivery from the corner was no source of mirth for Arsenal fans on that occasion. Who’s laughing now, eh?
57 min: Shocking defending by Arsenal again – they had nobody on either post, nobody to attack the ball as it came in and nobody marking Jamie Vardy, who gave his man the slip to flick a header in at the back stick. They’ve conceded two from corners tonight.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-3 Leicester (Vardy 56)
Oh Arsenal. Mahrez takes a corner and a completely unmarked Jamie Vardy skims a header across the box and in at the far post.
An unmarked Jamie Vardy heads in the third for Leicester. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters
54 min: The camera cuts to Arsenal’s BFG Per Mertesacker, wearing his suit on the Arsenalbench. He’s oput tonight because of a gash on his head that needed 13 stitches. Only 13 and he can’t play? Wuss!
52 min: Sound the Classic Leicester klaxon! Riyad Mahrez plays Jamie Vardy through on goal with a wonderful ball from deep, turning defence into counter-attack in a heartbeat. Petr Cech charges out of his penalty area and dispossesses the striker with a wonderfully timed tackle. That could have been hideously embarrassing for the Arsenal goalkeeper if he’d got his timing wrong.
50 min: Leicester attack down the left flank again. The ball’s played across to the right, where Riyad Mahrez takes possession. His cross his ridiculously overhit and prompts laughs and jeers from Arsenal’s fans. Even Mahrez himself can laugh at the sheer badness of his effort.
49 min: Mesut Ozil tries his luck with a shot from distance, but drags it wide of the upright.
48 min: Arsenal ping the ball around on the halfway line, without advancing up the field. The second half has got off to a considerably more sedate start to the first.
46 min: Leicester throw-in deep in Arsenal territory, which is taken long by Christian Fuchs. Holding clears.
46 min: Play resumes with no changes in personnel on either side. I thought Rob Holding might get hooked, as he’s looked the most uncomfortable in an Arsenal back three that struggled collectively on the back foot throughout the first half.
They have not been helped by Petr Cech, who’s also looked panic-stricken at times. Then again, playing behind a defence that poorly organised, he can probably be excused for the occasional flap.
…Its half time, Arsenal 2- Leicester 2
The Premier League has got off to a lively start, with the players trooping off after a massively entertaining 45 minutes of football.
Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring after just two minutes, before Shinji Okazaki equalised for Leicester and Jamie Vardy put them ahead.
Danny Welbeck leveled proceedings deep in added time, scrambling the ball home from close range after it had been squared to him by Sead Kolasinac.
It was scruffy end to a sublime move in which Arsenal’s players tippy-tapped their way through the Leicester defence with laser-like speed and precision.
So, It’s all square again into the half time as Danny Welbeck scuffs home from about four yards after some delightfully intricate play by assorted Arsenal players in the Leciester penalty area.
