Arsenal take on Leicester City in the Premier League this weekend but won’t have to run into their old nemesis Jamie Vardy at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners are looking to continue their push for a Champions League place and will need to keep picking up wins to make that happen.
Leicester are next in line for Arsenal, who have now won four Premier League games in a row.
A meeting with Leicester usually means one thing for Arsenal – a nightmare encounter with striker Jamie Vardy.
Veteran goalscorer Vardy has played 14 times against Arsenal in the Premier League, smashing 11 goals in the process.
Vardy made have only won four of those 14 games but, more often than not, he finds the net against Arsenal.
What only serves to add to Vardy’s reputation as Arsenal’s nemesis is the fact that he rejected a 2016 move to North London.
Offered a life-changing £20million move to Arsenal after Leicester’s stunning title win, Vardy chose to reject Arsene Wenger and stay at Leicester.
In Vardy’s last five outings against Arsenal, he’s bagged five goals. Even at 35, Vardy is a huge threat to the Arsenal defence whenever they meet him.
Fortunately for Mikel Arteta, there will be no meeting this weekend.
Vardy has taken a ‘knock to his knee’ according to Brendan Rodgers, and the striker is now expected to miss a number of weeks with this latest blow.
Injuries are starting to become a problem for Vardy and this new setback means he will miss this weekend’s game against Arsenal.
Arteta is probably breathing a huge sigh of relief, though don’t sleep on replacement Patson Daka; the dangerous Zambian will be looking to do Vardy’s work in his absence this weekend.
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