Leicester City: Did Arsenal discover the best way to beat Claudio Ranieri’s side?

The Gunners identified the inherent weakness in Claudio Ranieri's game plan and exploited it. Will other Premier League team now do the same?

Leicester City defender Robert Huth reacts to Arsenal's late winner (Getty Images)

So, Leicester City are not unstoppable. It turns out they can even be beaten. We’d always suspected it and, indeed, Arsenal’s victory yesterday meant they had done the double over Claudio Ranieri’s side.

It still stands though that, aside from the Gunners, only Liverpool have taken three points off the Foxes this term.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Leicester’s incredible run to the top of the league table is the fact that they’ve rarely had an opponent employ a game plan against them.

Too often, teams rode into the King Power Stadium or entertained Claudio Ranieri’s side with the belief that their streak of impressive wins was just that – a streak – and that it would all suddenly fall apart.

Few targeted Leicester’s weaknesses, fewer still even bothered to identify those weaknesses, and instead allowed Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and co. to bamboozle their unprepared defenders.

So, what are Leicester's deficiencies and did Arsenal expose them on Sunday, finally giving the rest of the division an idea of how to beat the surprise title challengers?

Leicester's weaknesses

The Foxes’ devastating counter-attacks all stem from a solid defensive base, one that defends deep and defends narrow. This is a tough line to penetrate but it leaves space on the flanks and, with so many atacking-minded full-backs in the top flight this season, many have been encouraged to bomb forward and exploit space on the wings.

As noted by our columnist Danny Higginbotham, before this weekend's game Leicester had conceded 469 crosses this season, an average of almost 19 per game. “Only Watford have allowed more,” he observed, but Claudio Ranieri is “relaxed about it because Leicester defend them so well."

The likes of Robert Huth and Wes Morgan are comfortable when asked to spend a lot of their afternoon winning aerial duels but, by permitting so much space out wide, the Foxes are relaint on their towering centre-halves batting away cross after cross. This is a weakness and one that is there to be exploited.

What Arsenal did right…

First things first, at the Emirates, Leicester did not concede an ‘average’ of 19 crosses. They conceded 50.

Passing stats from Arsenal 2 Leicester Ciy 1 (Independent Football Live)

Evidently, Arsene Wenger had noticed that the visitors left space out wide and decided to exploit it. There was an element of the old 'monkeys at typewriters writing Shakespeare' trope about Arsenal's approach - if you keep doing the right thing over and over again, eventually it will work.

This bombardment has a notable effect on Leicester's normally-imperious centre-backs. Morgan won just 29 per cent of his aerial duels. Huth faired better, winning 50 per cent, but as the game went on, and after the Foxes were down to 10 men, chance after chance began to fall to Arsenal after a cross from wide.

Wes Morgan's duel statistics vs Arsenal (Independent Football Live)

Robert Huth duel statistics vs Arsenal (Getty Images)

Some of Arsenal's crossing was the traditional 'floater', looping high into the box, but the Gunners' best opportunities came when drilling the ball low, thereby avoiding their opponent's tall centre-halves and finding runners arriving late in the box.

Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Per Mertesacker all missed at least one chance from a cross. Some wasted several. Even Danny Welbeck, who was ultimately the hero of the hour, should have done better with his first opportunity, which came after Nacho Monreal's sent a high ball from the left wing to the far post.

Unsurprisingly though, when Arsenal’s breakthroughs came, they were after the ball had been swung into the box from the flanks. Theo Walcott's equaliser required a deft knock-down from Giroud but Welbeck's winner was as standard a set-piece goal you will see.

Is this a fool proof way of beating Leicester?

Danny Simpson (GETTY IMAGES)

In short, no. The sending off of full-back Danny Simpson cannot be ignored, as it meant Ranieri surrendered Mahrez and thus, Leicester's key out-ball. Without one of their best counter-attacking outlets and no way of relieving pressure, the Foxes were forced to stay deep and try to defend. That, undoubtedly, intensified Arsenal's bombardment of their area and increased the likelihood of the home side scoring.

Simply throwing as many crosses into the box as much as possible is no guarantee either. One of Leicester's most impressive wins this season came at White Hart Lane, where Mauricio Pochettino's side sent 42 balls into the box from out wide.

It is, however, a way to exploit one of the weaknesses inherent in Leicester's usually-devastating game plan.

No system is perfect, each has its flaws. Yesterday, Arsenal identified one. It remains to be seen whether other Premier League teams will too.

Statistics taken from Independent Football Live, our new football app. Download it for iOS and Android here.