Arsenal extend Premier League lead, Leeds climb out of bottom three

Arsenal’s Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Martinelli (C) scores his team’s first goal during the English Premier League football match between Leicester City and Arsenal at King Power Stadium in Leicester, central England on February 25, 2023. (Photo by DARREN STAPLES / AFP)

Arsenal opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League thanks to a 1-0 win at Leicester on Saturday as Leeds beat Southampton 1-0 to give new boss Javi Gracia a winning start.

The Gunners snapped a four-game winless streak with two late goals at Aston Villa last week to take back control of the title race after briefly being usurped at the top of the table by Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta’s men needed no such drama at the King Power and should have run out far more convincing winners.

“For the amount of time we dominated ball possession, territory and the amount of situations we had in the final third, we should have created much more and scored more goals,” said Arteta.

“When you don’t, you have to be exceptional in your defensive work and we conceded one shot. Defensively we were outstanding.”

Arteta’s decision to start both Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard in the front three at the expense of Eddie Nketiah paid dividends.

Trossard had a brilliant first half strike into the top corner controversially ruled out by a VAR review for a foul by Ben White on Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward.

But Martinelli was not to be denied one minute into the second period when he coolly slotted home from Trossard’s pass.

Bukayo Saka had a second goal ruled out for offside as Arsenal failed to turn their domination into a more convincing scoreline.

However, they did enough to pile the pressure on second-placed City ahead of their trip to Bournemouth later on