Leicester vs Arsenal result: Jamie Vardy leads thrashing to dent Gunners’ top-four hopes

Leicester 3-0 Arsenal: With ruthless, thrilling, attacking football, the like of which Arsenal have often prided themselves on, Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes dished out the pain

If Arsenal fans thought their embarrassment had peaked in midweek, Leicester City reminded them that football has a painful habit of kicking you when you’re down. With ruthless, thrilling, attacking football, the like of which Arsenal have often prided themselves on, Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes dished out more pain, more shocks and more ridicule for Unai Emery’s men.

The sending-off of Ainsley Maitland-Niles before half-time for two bookable offences must have left travelling fans fearing another chastening afternoon. It was worse than they could have imagined, however, as Leicester netted three simple goals that had little to do with their extra man and much to do with the defensive weakness that looks set to deny Arsenal a top-four finish.

Youri Tielemans’ opener was an exercise in defensive neglect but the goals that followed, both from Jamie Vardy, beggared belief from a Gunners point of view. Not that Leicester will care. Their display was dynamic and ruthless and the feelgood factor that has accompanied Rodgers’ arrival shows no signs of dissipating.

There was precious little to encourage Gunners fans in a first half in which Leicester dominated. The only significant comfort Emery could draw was that his side stood firm; an improvement on Wednesday evening, when they capitulated under similar pressure from Wolves.

They had a couple of chances, most notably when Alexandre Lacazette volleyed over from a cross by Alex Iwobi and when Iwobi was denied by a smart Kasper Schmeichel save following a quickfire Arsenal break and a smart pass by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Mostly, though, it was a tale of Leicester superiority with Leno redeeming himself for a poor display at Molineux by keeping his side in it.

He made a fine, full-length save to keep out a header by Wilfred Ndidi, albeit his own poor handling had led to the corner from which the chance arrived. And, after James Maddison had dragged two shots just wide, Youri Tielemans had narrowly fired off target and Jamie Vardy had lifted a dangerous effort over the crossbar, Leno rescued his side again.

He made a smart, low save to keep out a Vardy shot in the final moments of the half.

By then, though, the visitors were down to 10 men after Maitland-Niles, who had already been booked for a barge on Ben Chilwell, lost possession to Maddison, made an injudicious lunge to win it back, caught the Leicester man on the ankle and received his second caution and the inevitable red card that followed.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles reacts after being sent off (Reuters)

Half-time changes saw Arsenal introduced an extra defender in Laurent Koscielny and Leicester an extra attack-minded midfielder in Harvey Barnes.

Yet the early pattern was of two sides committed to attacking with Leicester dominating territory with their extra man but with the visitors retaining a threat on the break.

The breakthrough arrived on 59 minutes, however, via a goal that owed little to Arsenal’s numerical disadvantage and much to the same defensive weakness that has become their unwanted hallmark.

There was no pressure applied as Albrighton and Maddison exchanged passes at will 30 yards from goal, then no marking or awareness as Tielemans strolled between Koscielny and Sokratis to head past Leno.

With pressure mounting and tempers being tested, referee Oliver looked set to send Emery to the stands, apparently for comments to the fourth official, but decided instead to issue the Gunners boss with a final warning over his conduct.

The pressure from Leicester showed no sign of relenting and Leno had to make two fine saves, first to keep out a curling shot from Ricardo Pereira and then to deny Harvey Barnes with a follow-up.

There were moments of annoyance, too, for the visitors, not least when Evans appeared to catch Lucas Torreira with an arm as the pair contested a free-kick.

The contact appeared careless at best.

Leicester players celebrate Jamie Vardy's first goal (Reuters)

Arsenal had no-one to blame but themselves, however, when four minutes from full-time Vardy killed the game with a goal that typified the Gunners’ defensive weakness.

They simply allowed the Leicester forward to be first to a long goal-kick by Kasper Schmeichel before lobbing against the crossbar and heading home the rebound.

The final seconds added insult to injury for Arsenal with the most embarrassing goal of the trio, as Ricardo was allowed to walk through their defence and square for Vardy to tap in.

Emery sat in disbelief, and contemplating perhaps channelling all his efforts into the Europa League and, perhaps, a more likely route into the Champions League.

Leicester (4-1-4-1): Schmeichel; Ricardo, Evans, Maguire, Chilwell; Ndidi (Barnes HT); Albrighton (Gray 85), Tielemans, Choudhury (Mendy 79), Maddison; Vardy.

Substitutes: Soyuncu, Gray, Iheanacho, Ward, Mendy, Fuchs. Booked: Ndidi, Ricardo, Chilwell.

Arsenal (4-4-2): Leno; Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Mustafi, Kolasinac; Mkhitaryan (Guendouzi 73), Torreira, Xhaka, Iwobi (Koscielny, HT); Lacazette (Nketiah 73), Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Cech, Elneny, Mavropanos, Willock. Booked: Maitland-Niles, Sokratis. Sent off: Maitland-Niles

Referee: Michael Oliver

Attendance: 32,037