Emergency striker Merino rescues Arsenal with double to sink Leicester
Mikel Arteta challenged his Arsenal squad to bare their teeth and prove they have the tools to fight for the title despite stomaching a significant injury to Kai Havertz. For 80 minutes it seemed fears of being blunt in attack would be founded in a frustrating stalemate at struggling Leicester but then the excellent Ethan Nwaneri dinked a feathery cross into the box and the substitute Mikel Merino, unmarked between Wout Faes and Woyo Coulibaly six yards out, twisted his head to power in the first of his two goals. Merino, who replaced the ineffective Raheem Sterling, sealed victory with his second with three minutes of normal time to play.
Arteta began with Leandro Trossard as a false 9, Sterling to his left and Nwaneri to his right in a three-pronged attack but until Merino’s header the Arsenal manager must have been wondering how else to penetrate Leicester, now without a clean sheet in 21 matches in all competitions. This was the first Premier League game in which Arsenal began without any of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus or Havertz, who is out for the season with a hamstring injury, for almost four years. But Merino ensured Arsenal cut the gap to Liverpool, the leaders who host Wolves on Sunday, to four points for at least 24 hours.
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