Leicester turn on the style as Arsenal’s miserable away form shows no signs of abating

Leicester City 3-1 Arsenal: The home side earned a first Premier League win over Arsenal in 22 matches as Kelechi Iheanacho, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez all scored

Leicester could still overhaul Everton for eighth place (Getty)

There are doubtless many things Arsene Wenger will miss about the Premier League –but Jamie Vardy is probably not one.

The Leicester City striker scored his sixth goal in his last six games against Wenger’s Arsenal with a penalty that was the pivotal moment in defeat for the Frenchman in his penultimate game in charge of the Gunners.

When the King Power Stadium crowd showed their respect for Wenger in stoppage time, singing his name and giving him a standing ovation, the veteran Gunners boss seemed embarrassed as he waved in acknowledgement.

No wonder he felt awkward, having seen his 10-man side deservedly beaten by goals from Kelechi Iheanacho, Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.

There was a hint controversy with the contested sending off of Konstantinos Mavropanos a minute after Iheanacho’s opening goal.

But defeat, despite Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang briefly levelling the scores at 1-1, left Wenger’s men still without a point away from home in 2018.

Whether a rousing win will be enough to save Leicester boss Claude Puel remains to be seen, but the under-pressure Frenchman got a memorable success against Wenger, his long-time mentor.

There was a bright from Arsenal and within a minute Henrikh Mkhitaryan tried his luck from inside the area after Leicester failed to clear a corner, but his effort was claimed comfortably by goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic.

On seven minutes Mkhitaryan was involved again in a neat move that ended with Alex Iwobi letting fly from the edge of the area with a shot that a diving Jakupovic had to push clear.

But Vardy gave the Gunners a scare on 13 minutes when he collected an Adrien Silva pass, wrong-footed Rob Holding and saw his powerful shot turned around the near post by goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Kelechi Iheanacho opened the scoring (Getty)

That was the prelude to the opening goal for the hosts on 14 minutes.

Arsenal failed to properly clear a corner, Christian Fuchs’ cross was helped back across goal by Fousseni Diabate and Iheanacho fired past Cech on the half volley.

Just a minute later things got worse for the Gunners when Iheanacho blocked a casual pass by Mavropanos, who reacted by hauling down the Leicester forward to prevent him running at goal and was shown a straight red card.

The game might have been settled a further two minutes later when Harry Maguire met a lofted pass by Riyad Mahrez but saw his volley saved well by Cech, who then kept out a long-distance effort from Iheanacho.

The Arsenal defender received his marching orders (Getty)

Just before the half-hour, Diabate’s inviting cross from the left narrowly eluded Vardy in the centre.

But 10 minutes before the interval Jakupovic had to make a smart save from Mkhitaryan after a patient Arsenal break.

Within the opening minute of the second half, a precise Arsenal move ended with Sead Kolasinac striking the post for the Gunners.

But minutes later the visitors needed substitute Shkodran Mustafi to hook a Diabate shot off the line after Cech had got a hand to it.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang levelled the scores (Getty)

On 53 minutes, however, Wenger’s side were level as Ainsley Maitland-Niles tore down the right flank and crossed for Aubameyang, who scored at the second attempt after Jakupovic made a smart save from his initial shot.

Leicester had lost their first-half momentum despite a one-match advantage and they should have been 2-1 down with 19 minutes remaining.

Aubameyang intercepted a poor pass from Danny Simpson squared for Mkhitaryan but his touch let him down and a glorious chance went begging.

Leicester made the Gunners pay with 14 minutes to play when Demarai Gray cut into the box and was tripped by Mkhitaryan, with Vardy making no mistake with a penalty he drilled into the roof of the net.

Jamie Vardy made no mistake from the penalty spot (Getty)

And with the Gunners pushing for an equaliser, Mahrez made sure of victory in the 90th minute when he sprung the offside trap, left Holding standing and produced a fine finish to beat Cech.

Leicester fans showed their respect for Wenger with a round of applause in stoppage time but the Frenchman will probably be thankful not to see them, and especially their talisman, again.