Arsenal and Mikel Arteta show support to Ukraine in win over Leicester

Rory Fleming

The Gunners marked the anniversary of the war in fitting fashion.

Arsenal claimed a second successive victory on Saturday afternoon as they eased to a comfortable 1-0 win away to a feeble Leicester City side.

Briefly extending their lead at the top of the table to five points prior to Manchester City’s demolition of relegation candidates Bournemouth, the North London club delivered an assured display in the English Midlands.

Although, the afternoon could have proceeded at a procession-like pace had the Gunner’s not suffered from yet another contentious VAR call on Leandro Trossard’s disallowed first-half strike.

Leandro Trossard saw his first half strike ruled out by VAR.

With a favourable run of games to come, which sees Arsenal play four of their next five league fixtures at the Emirates Stadium, momentum is building as the Gunners seek to bring to an end a near-two decade long league title drought.

On the weekend which marked the first anniversary of the Ukrainian war, Arteta, at the request of club captain Martin Odegaard, handed the armband to Ukrainian international Oleksandr Zinchenko, with the versatile left-back also donning a captain’s armband in the colours of his homeland’s flag.

Despite yet another strong performance from his fresh-faced Arsenal side, Mikel Arteta took the opportunity in his post-match interview to instead lend words of support to the people of Ukraine.

Zincheko’s Ukrainian-inspired captain’s armband.

Speaking to Bein Sports, the Spaniard stated that “We wanted to win for him (Zinchenko), for his family and loved ones and all the people in Ukraine who have inspired the world with this fighting spirit, which they have shown for over a year now”.

In the immediate aftermath of their win over the Foxes, Arteta and his players celebrated the reinforcing of their title credentials in front of a raucous away end, which contained scores of Ukrainian flags hoisted aloft by the travelling supporters.

🎶 We've got super Mik' Arteta 🎶 pic.twitter.com/87joEh9Hon

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 25, 2023

Arsenal and Norway captain Martin Odegaard also gave a poignant interview following the Gunner’s 18th league win of the season. Speaking on his decision to hand over the armband to Zinchenko for the afternoon, the 24-year-old said that “It was a nice thing to do, to show him the support. It’s been a year now, too long”.

The former Real Madrid midfielder went on to add that “it’s a very difficult situation and very emotional. It was a good thing to do to show our support (for Ukraine)”.

Arsenal will now adjust their sights to Wednesday night’s clash against Sean Dyche’s physical Everton team, with the league leader’s aiming to avenge their limp 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park earlier this month.

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