Two teams with European aspirations will go head to head at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday when Arsenal welcome high-flying Leicester City to North London.
The Gunners have made a timely return to form to ensure that they are still in the running for European qualification, while Leicester also got back to winning ways last time out.
Arsenal appeared close to crisis following defeats against Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion in their first two games back after lockdown, but they have since turned that form around to get their 2019-20 campaign back on track.
A run of four successive wins across all competitions, including three in the Premier League, has lifted them up to seventh place – good enough for Europa League football and still in with a shout for Champions League qualification.
Six points is the gap to fifth-placed Manchester United as things stand, which could be difficult to bridge given the Red Devils’ form but it is also far from unassailable.
Mikel Arteta’s side will take particular confidence from Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers – their first away win over a team starting the day above them in the table since September 2015 – as they upset the formbook at Molineux.
A run of four successive wins across all competitions, including three in the Premier League, has lifted them up to seventh place – good enough for Europa League football and still in with a shout for Champions League qualification.
Six points is the gap to fifth-placed Manchester United as things stand, which could be difficult to bridge given the Red Devils’ form but it is also far from unassailable.
Mikel Arteta’s side will take particular confidence from Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers – their first away win over a team starting the day above them in the table since September 2015 – as they upset the formbook at Molineux.
Perhaps the aspect of their upturn in form which will have pleased Arteta the most will be their defensive improvement, with Arsenal’s previously leaky defence having now kept three clean sheets in a row.
It is the first time since November 2017 that the Gunners have won three league games in a row without conceding, and their record at home also shows huge signs of improvement with four clean sheets in their last six such games, having kept only one in their previous 13.
Arsenal are yet to taste a home league defeat in 2020, taking 16 points from a possible 18 in that time, including victories in each of their last four for the first time since April 2019.
By contrast, Leicester are winless away from home since New Year’s Day – a five-match run from which they have taken only two points from a possible 15 – and that could stretch to six for the first time since February 2017.
The Foxes did finally pick up their first win since lockdown on Saturday, though, with a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace ending a four-game winless streak across all competitions in timely fashion.
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