Arsenal maintain close pursuit

Leicester City ... 1 Arsenal ... 3Arsenal duly renewed their close pursuit of Manchester United at Filbert Street last night with a victory over the bottom team that has lifted them to second place, a point behind the leaders with a match in hand.

Yet their attempt to canter to victory after taking a two-goal lead and seeing Leicester City reduced to 10 men almost cost them dear.

A fine header from Muzzy Izzet led a Leicester revival and had Richard Wright not pushed one from Matt Elliott around a post, Arsene Wenger's players would have been punished for their presumption before Sylvain Wiltord came off the bench to score a third goal in stoppage time.

Leicester's best hope was to hustle in the hope Arsenal would be thrown out of their stride. But with Bassett's attack led by James Scowcroft and Izzet, a midfielder, it seemed that Arsenal would need to defend very badly to lose.

They started brightly however, and and went close on a number of occasions, including midway through the first half, when Thierry Henry walloped a 35-yard free-kick against the post.

The overall pattern was one of Arsenal attacks gliding easily into threatening positions only to be let down by casual finishing.

Nevertheless it was a casual sort of goal that gave them the lead on the half-hour. Oleg Luzhny's cross should have been cut out by Frank Sinclair but he allowed it to reach Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, whose header sailed inside the near post.

Arsenal scored again three minutes from half-time, again capitalising on poor Leicester defending.

First Callum Davidson was unable to cut out the through pass Denis Bergkamp aimed at Patrick Vieira and then Jacob Laursen failed to clear the loose ball, allowing Henry to slip past him and score.

For the second half, Bassett brought on three more players - Trevor Benjamin, Matthew Jones and Ade Akinbiyi. Unfortunately he also had to take three off. Izzet was withdrawn to a more normal role, allowing Akinbiyi and Benjamin to form a fresh attack .

Assisted by Arsenal's now languid approach, Leicester began to keep possession although Akinbiyi's uneasy relationship with the offside flag did not help.

Neither did the loss of Trevor Sinclair with a hip injury, the result of a tackle with Robert Pires, which reduced Leicester to 10 men for the final half-hour. Perhaps this was the spur they needed, for in the 68th minute Izzet met Impey's corner with a fine header.

Guardian Service

LEICESTER: Flowers, Impey, Sinclair, Laursen, Elliott, Davidson (Jones 45), Savage, Rogers, Oakes (Benjamin 45), Izzet, Scowcroft (Akinbiyi 45). Subs Not Used: Andrews, Stewart. Booked: Scowcroft, Izzet. Goal: Izzet 68.

ARSENAL: Wright, Luzhny, Keown, Campbell, Cole, Parlour (Grimandi 79), Vieira, van Bronckhorst (Upson 90), Pires, Henry, Bergkamp (Wiltord 79). Subs Not Used: Stack, Dixon. Goals: van Bronckhorst 33, Henry 43, Wiltord 90.

Referee: D Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill).