Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has endured a poor start to the season
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has endured a poor start to the season

Arsenal 0-1 Leicester: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 18/1 for Golden Boot as Jamie Vardy nets late winner


Leicester's Jamie Vardy came off the bench to score yet another goal against Arsenal, whose captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to find the net again.

The Gunners striker has now scored just once in six Premier League games this season, failing to net in five appearances since an opening-day strike at Fulham.

It has seen Aubameyang's price jump to a mammoth 18/1 to finish the campaign as the division's leading scorer despite the fact he shared the honour in 2018/19 and narrowly missed out last term.

His current lean spell was brought into stark clarity by Vardy at the Emirates on Sunday night as the former England striker returned from a two-game injury absence to fire in his sixth league goal this season and clinch a 1-0 win.

It secured the Foxes a first top-flight win at Arsenal since 1973 and took Vardy's personal tally against the north London club to an impressive 11 in 12 league matches.

The Foxes travelled to Emirates Stadium with a gameplan which they played out to perfection, soaking up plenty of Arsenal pressure before introducing fit-again Vardy from the bench to do the damage.

It was a gameplan that also helped comfortably deliver an 11/4 corner handicap winner (Arsenal -3) with room to spare.


Premier League Top Goalscorer 20/21 - Sky Bet odds

  • Harry Kane - 7/2
  • Mo Salah - 4/1
  • Dominic Calvert-Lewin - 13/2
  • Jamie Vardy, Son-Heung Min - 8/1
  • Timo Werner - 10/1
  • Danny Ings - 16/1
  • Patrick Bamford, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 18/1

Odds correct at 08:45 GMT 26/10/20


Don't write-off Auba

For Arsenal talismanic captain to be so far down in the betting is quite a surprise.

He may have gone five games without scoring in the league but the Gabon striker did find the net only last week when he hitting a late winner off the bench against Rapid Vienna in the Europa League, so it's hardly a drought.

There's no getting away from the fact that Aubameyang isn't in great form though. This run of five league games is the longest he's ever gone without a league goal in his near three years at the Emirates.

But he has regularly failed to find the net for four straight matches, and yet still been in the running for Golden Boot honours come the end of the past two seasons.

You need only look as far as Vardy for an example of why this price is incredibly generous. The Leicester front-man went two-and-a-half months without scoring a league goal between December and March last season, but still finished as the Premier League's top scorer.

Backing Auba heavily each-way at 18/1 is a really smart play given his form over the past three years - 73 goals in 115 Arsenal appearances really does speak for itself.


Arsenal rue offside call - report

Jamie Vardy scores late winner for Leicester
Jamie Vardy scores a late winner for Leicester

Arsenal named a strong side and should have done better – but had an early effort controversially chalked off and then failed to make their dominance pay as Thomas Partey’s home debut ended in defeat.

Mikel Arteta thought his side had taken the lead as early as the third minute as Alexandre Lacazette headed home a Dani Ceballos corner at the front post.

An offside flag saw the effort ruled out, however, with Granit Xhaka deemed to have been interfering with play as he stood in front of Kasper Schmeichel.

With Vardy warming the bench, the visitors were playing without an out and out striker and therefore most of the early attacking threat came through Arsenal.

But Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers always had the option of turning to his star man and did so just before the hour.

The winning goal would come from Leicester finally bursting into life as an attacking force, breaking the deadlock with their first effort on target of the evening, hitting Arsenal on the counter-attack as their two substitutes combined.

Youri Tielemans’ ball over the top of the Arsenal defence set Cengiz Under in behind and he crossed perfectly for Vardy to head home what was almost an inevitable goal against the Gunners.


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