How Arsenal could line-up vs Leicester as Havertz and Saka miss out – predicted XI, team news and talkSPORT coverage

Arsenal will hope to put their injury crisis to one side when they travel to Leicester City this weekend, live on talkSPORT.

The Gunners retain hopes of sustaining their Premier League title challenge but are struggling with problems outside their control.

Havertz is Arsenal's top scorer this termCredit: Rex

Mikel Arteta's men find themselves seven points adrift of runaway leaders Liverpool following the Reds' midweek 2-2 draw with Everton.

The north Londoners enjoyed a rare weekend off due to their early FA Cup exit so instead were involved in a winter camp in Dubai.

A similar excursion at this point last year was the catalyst for a major upturn in form after just one win in seven at the start of 2024.

Arsenal embarked on an eight-game winning streak in the league - with a similar run needed to retain hopes of challenging Liverpool.

However, the club suffered a huge blow on the eve of their return, with Kai Havertz being ruled out for the rest of the season.

The German joins an already well-populated medical room, with Gabriel Jesus already out until the end of 2025.

The Gunners’ failure to sign a striker in January looks to have haunted them, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli also sidelined.

How Arsenal could line-up vs Leicester

Arteta’s starting front three will be the only fit attackers he has at his disposal - Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard and Ethan Nwaneri.

Both Sterling and Trossard naturally play on the left, but both have experience as a false 9 down the middle.

The latter will likely be given the nod to deputise for Havertz, having done so under Arteta previously during a 1-0 win at Leicester in 2023.

Arteta lavished praise on the Belgian's contributionOnly Tottenham (17 starts, 1691 mins) and Southampton (14, 1257 mins) have handed more starts and more minutes to players aged 18 or younger than Arsenal (10, 835 mins) in the Premier League this season; seven of those starts have come for Myles Lewis-Skelly, the joint-most by a Gunners defender in the competition before turning 19 along with Gaël Clichy. Since Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge of Leicester in December, only Southampton have lost more games (9) and won fewer points (4) than the Foxes (W2 D1 L8 – 7 points). The former Man Utd striker didn’t end on the losing side in any of his final seven league appearances against Arsenal as a player (W3 D4).  Leicester captain Jamie Vardy has scored more Premier League goals against Arsenal than he has vs any other opponent (11) and only Harry Kane (14) and Wayne Rooney (12) have netted more often against the Gunners in the competition.    

Teenager Nwaneri was teased by Arteta as potentially developing into a number nine in December.

He could get a headstart on that development at the weekend, with Mikel Merino's physical presence making him an outside pick for replicating Havertz's transition from midfield to the front line.

Elsewhere, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are still not ready to comeback which means the rest of the XI should look very familiar.

Declan Rice, Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard has been Arteta's favoured three in the middle, with David Raya between the sticks.

A settled defence of central pairing Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba will be flanked by Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jurrien Timber.

Riccardo Calafiori will be pushing to come in at full-back, while the Italian defender is also a rogue wildcard option in attack.

Trossard could be used as a false 9 while Havertz is injuredMerino could be used to provide the physical presence upfrontLeicester have lost each of their last six Premier League games against Arsenal, having won four of their six against the Gunners before this run (D1 L1).Arsenal have won their last three Premier League away games against Leicester, just one fewer than they managed across their first 14 visits to Filbert Street/King Power Stadium in the competition (W4 D6 L4).Arsenal have won 21 of their last 25 Premier League matches against sides sitting in the relegation zone (D3 L1), with their only defeat in that spell coming away to 19th place Everton in February 2023 (0-1).

Leicester vs Arsenal: talkSPORT coverage

This Premier League game is set to take place on Saturday, February 15.

Kick-off at the King Power Stadium is scheduled for 12:30pm.

talkSPORT will have live and EXCLUSIVE coverage from the Midlands, presented by Reshmin Chowdhury.

Commentary comes from Sam Matterface and former England striker Dean Ashton.

talkSPORT.com will also have updates throughout via our dedicated live Premier League blog.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. 

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

It will be also broadcast on TNT Sports, with coverage commencing at 11:00am.

Leicester have lost back-to-back games in the Premier League and FA CupCredit: GettyLeicester City have lost each of their last four Premier League home games without scoring – only Sheffield Wednesday in 1919-20, Birmingham City in 1921-22 and Norwich City in 2019-20 have ever lost five in a row on home turf to nil in the same top-flight campaign.Arsenal are unbeaten in each of their last 14 Premier League games (W9 D5) and haven’t gone longer without suffering defeat in the competition since between December 2010 and April 2011 under Arsène Wenger (16 games).Only Southampton (54) have conceded more Premier League goals this season than Leicester City (53), who haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 17 league matches since beating Bournemouth 1-0 at the King Power Stadium in October.

Leicester vs Arsenal: What has been said?

Darren Bent was branded 'out of his mind' by Noel Gallagher on talkSPORT after predicting Arsenal to win silverware this season.

Bent reminded Andy Goldstein what he said earlier in the season about which competition Arsenal would win, to which Goldstein responded: "Champions League."

The claim left Gallagher in hysterics as he replied: "You what with the Champions League? Are you mad?"

Despite Gallagher's shock, Bent doubled down on his stance.

"The league is done, I think the league is done," Bent said.

"But the Champions League, we've got a great chance. One of the big ones are going in the second leg, so that's one of them gone.

"So, it's our time."

Bent's bold belief in the Gunners only prompted more laughter from Gallagher.

"I listen every day," Gallagher added.

"The amount of times I've had the phone in my hand thinking, 'I'm going to call in here, because he's out of his mind.'"