Relive six classic home wins against Leicester | From the vault | News

Leicester City arrive in north London on Saturday, and one thing is for sure when the Foxes are in town - there are usually plenty of goals in store!

We've had plenty of topsy-turvy clashes against them down the years and all sorts of big scorelines have been recorded, and we've dug out some of the best for you to enjoy again.

Hat-tricks, red cards, last-gasps wins - there's something for everyone in these six Gunners victories:

February 20, 1999
Arsenal 5-0 Leicester

It took Nicolas Anelka 44 minutes to net his only Arsenal hat-trick, but this was an afternoon where Dennis Bergkamp was sublime as he recorded four assists. The duo combined for the opening two goals on 23 and 27 minutes when the Frenchman was allowed the freedom of Highbury to score a pair of trademark finishes.

The Iceman then picked out Ray Parlour to arrow in a third before Marc Overmars put the ball on a plate for Anelka to complete his treble just before half-time. When Bergkamp allowed Parlour to crash home his second three minutes after the interval this looked like being an absolute pasting, but we couldn’t quite add further gloss to the scoreline.

December 26, 2000
Arsenal 6-1 Leicester

The following year, a different Frenchman bagged his first hat-trick for the club at the Foxes’ expense, but this would be the first of nine for Thierry Henry. His opening goal was the finest, meeting a Robert Pires corner on the half-volley to blitz a shot in the bottom corner, and a deft finish by a rampaging Patrick Vieira started the second half nicely.

Ade Akinbiyi pulled one back on 54 minutes, but Henry turned Matt Elliott to restore the three-goal cushion and open the floodgates. Freddie Ljungberg hooked in our fourth before Henry riggled his way past Tim Flowers to seal the matchball, and to cap it off Tony Adams ran the length of the pitch, ending a move he started.

August 25, 2001
Arsenal 4-0 Leicester

We were purring in this early-season affair as some intricate passing set the path to victory. A slick one-two between Pires and Sylvain Wiltord set up Ljungberg for the opener after 17 minutes, before the two Frenchmen combined again to slice open the defence and allow Wiltord to get on the scoresheet.

On the hour mark an incident involving Vieira and Dennis Wise saw both red carded, but we kept our heads and continued to make the visitors pay as Henry netted a deflected strike via a post, and in the final seconds Nwankwo Kanu headed home a rebound following an Ian Walker save.

May 15, 2004
Arsenal 2-1 Leicester

On a memorable day at Highbury, we ended the 2003/04 season unbeaten as the Invincibles were born. However, the already-relegated Foxes threatened to spoil the party when ex-Gunner Paul Dickov headed past Jens Lehmann on 25 minutes, and sent the visitors into the break with the lead.

But just two minutes after the restart Ashley Cole was bundled over in the area by Frank Sinclair and Henry restored parity with a well-taken penalty, and 20 minutes later skipper Vieira sealed our spot in the record books, converting an exquisite Bergkamp pass to ensure his team became the first since 1899 to avoid defeat all season long.

August 11, 2017
Arsenal 4-3 Leicester

The 2017/18 Premier League season began with a bang as we edged a seven-goal thriller despite trailing with seven minutes to play. Alexandre Lacazette headed home two minutes into his league debut to get the ball rolling, but Shinji Okazaki quickly snuffed that out before Jamie Vardy put the Foxes in front.

Danny Welbeck equalised just before half-time, but Leicester got back ahead when Vardy flicked home a corner to make it 3-2. That’s how things stayed entering the final stages but Aaron Ramsey’s neat touch in the box allowed him to fire past Kasper Schmeichel, and with five minutes to go Olivier Giroud headed home the winner to start the season in style.

August 13, 2022
Arsenal 4-2 Leicester

Gabriel Jesus opened his Gunners account with two goals in the opening 45 minutes to send us on our way to a first home win of the campaign. His first was a sumptuous piece of play on 23 minutes that saw him chip into the top corner from inside the area, before he nodded home from close range 13 minutes later to put us in control.

A Wiliam Saliba own goal halved the deficit, but we bounced back within two minutes thanks to Granit Xhaka pouncing on a poor piece of goalkeeping by Danny Ward, and even after James Maddison reignited hope for the visitors, we repeated the trick again when Gabriel Martinelli netted virtually straight after with an arrowed shot into the bottom corner.