Mads Hermansen was in heroic form against Arsenal. He needed to be.
Arsenal had 36 shots on goal at the Emirates and the Leicester City goalkeeper made 13 saves, one short of the Premier League record in a game.
“I must admit, it was a bit too much,” he said after the 4-2 defeat. “I think we conceded 36 shots on goal. No matter who you play, that’s simply too much. We have to look at what we can improve and try to do better for the future.”
Leicester have a lot to improve on across the pitch. According to Opta, their expected goals (xG) total is the lowest in the division (4.3 over the opening six games) and their expected goals against (xGA) is the worst too, at 12.75.
In attack, they have scored in every Premier League game, with eight goals in their opening six games, but they have had the fewest shots in the division (52). Their goals are thanks to the third-highest shot conversion rate in the league, behind Chelsea and Aston Villa.
That conversion rate will be very difficult to maintain, making it even more important that Leicester shore up at the back. The Arsenal game has skewed their statistics defensively, as Leicester had been reasonably good until their trip to the Emirates, but they are yet to keep a clean sheet and Hermansen is now statistically the most worked keeper in the league. The Dane has faced 114 shots, the highest total in the league, with 43 on target, also the highest in the league. He has made 31 saves, with 27 of them being shots inside the penalty area, also the highest tally.
At the other end of the pitch, Wilfred Ndidi, renowned for his defensive midfield work in previous seasons, has been Leicester’s more creative player this season, with four big chances created (joint fifth in the Premier League) and four assists (joint second in the Premier League with Cole Palmer and Mohamed Salah — only Bukayo Saka has more). Despite his attacking contribution, Ndidi, who has played as the most advanced of the three midfield players, hasn’t shirked his defensive duties and leads the division for the most tackles (24), level with Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo.
Yet behind him, Leicester are a work in progress. When Leandro Trossard scored Arsenal’s second goal Hermansen had an animated discussion with holding midfielder Harry Winks over how Trossard found so much space.
The reason for Hermansen’s criticism is shown below. When Arsenal reached the edge of Leicester’s box the defence were in good shape, with a line of four and the three central midfield players getting back into position. As the ball went wide from Declan Rice to Gabriel Martinelli, Winks was on the shoulder of Trossard as he started to make his run into the box…
… but as the ball was cut back, Trossard had found space between Winks and Wout Faes, with neither making a challenge, allowing a simple finish.
Leicester should have been aware of this danger as they conceded a very similar goal earlier in the half.
Again Leicester looked well set as Arsenal attacked down the flank, with a clear line of four at the back and the two holding midfielders, Oliver Skipp and Winks, in position to assist. Full-back Jurrien Timber made a run past Leicester winger Stephy Mavididi but he wasn’t tracked…
… giving Saka a simple ball into the channel for Timber to run onto. Martinelli seemed well marked by Faes with James Justin in support, while Kai Havertz was marked by Caleb Okoli. Timber threaded his pass through left-back Victor Kristiansen and Winks…
… and again it was a simple movement from Martinelli back into space to score, with neither Faes nor Justin having closed him down.
“The two goals in the first half are really typical Arsenal goals, in terms of the areas they get into and the types of crosses and cutbacks,” Leicester manager Steve Cooper said afterwards. “We’ve seen them so many times, so it is disappointing to end up conceding having worked on it and looked at it, but sometimes that’s how good they can be.”
Justin, who has played as the high full-back in Cooper’s system in recent games, had an eventful game at the Emirates, scoring both of Leicester’s goals and recording his first brace of his career, but at times this season he has been exposed and outnumbered.
As a central partnership, Cooper has settled on Faes and Okoli, the latter of which has made a great start to his Premier League career since joining from Atalanta in summer. Italy head coach Luciano Spalletti included him in the senior squad for the recent Nations League wins against France and Israel and, although he has yet to pick up his first cap, if he makes the squad again he could do so against Faes and Belgium next week.
Faes has been an ever-present for club and country over the past couple of seasons, and already this season he leads the Premier League in clearances with 41, but he hasn’t always been in the right place at the right time. In fact, his tendency to be dragged out of position has cost Leicester on a couple of occasions this season.
At Fulham, he was lured out of the back four into midfield by Andreas Pereira…
… which left Justin exposed…
… and outnumbered in the build-up to what would become Emile Smith Rowe’s opening goal.
Against Everton at the King Power Stadium, Faes raced out of position to track James Garner, leaving a huge space in Leicester’s defence…
… which Ashley Young was able to play a pass into for Iliman Ndiaye to score.
Cooper prefers his defenders to be mobile and athletic, and it is the reason why Jannik Vestergaard, who started in the first two matches, and Conor Coady have had limited minutes so far. Faes and Okoli are still building their partnership and developing their understanding, but a lot like Cooper’s Leicester, it is a work in progress.
In 2022-23, when Cooper’s Nottingham Forest were newly promoted to the Premier League, he started the season with a similar defensive set-up but switched to a back five after eight games, adopting a more pragmatic approach. He seems unlikely to do the same with Leicester.
“I think they’re completely different circumstances,” he says. “We’re always open to adaptation and to changes. We’ve got to build the core of what we think it takes to play well, and then if we’re in a position to tweak and change, we’ll do that.
“But I’m not comparing this to any job beforehand because it’s completely different.”
Right now Cooper is committed to his side’s set-up and approach, but defensively they have work to do to give themselves the solid platform on which to build a successful Premier League survival plan.
