Arsenal have dropped two points in their hunt for the Premier League title having been held to a 1-1 draw by Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
It was the hosts who came closest to opening the scoring on 18 minutes when some intricate link-up pay between Riyad Mahrez and Andy King on the edge of the box allowed the former to get a strike away at goal, which flew narrowly wide of the post.
© Getty Images
Less than two minutes later Arsenal were ahead, however, and it was Alexis Sanchez who found the target, making no mistake from close range when the ball deflected into his path to bag his first league goal for the club.
Leonardo Ulloa provided an instant response for the Foxes when he headed Jeff Schlupp's inch-perfect cross past Wojciech Szczesny following some slack Arsenal defending.
Leicester began asking questions of the Gunners as the half progressed and they even had a shout for a penalty turned down, but the sides went into the interval level following an even 45 minutes.
Just moments after Santi Cazorla fired wide with his first-time shot, Ulloa came within inches of sending the newly-promoted side into the lead, but having cut inside his resulting effort could only find the side-netting.
© Getty Images
Kasper Schmeichel was called into action on the hour to deny Yaya Sanogo, who was played in by Nacho Monreal, keeping out the Frenchman's shot from close range.
Arsenal pushed for a winner with Cazorla once more trying his luck, but the midfielder's attempt deflected narrowly over the target.
The last real opening of the contest fell the way of Leicester substitute Jamie Vardy, who got the better of Mathieu Flamini before playing in David Nugent. However, after receiving the ball back off his strike partner, Vardy was unable to find a way past Szczesny, who tipped the ball away.
The draw means that the Gunners move up to seventh in the league table, while Nigel Pearson's side are currently 15th.
Daniel Lewis
