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Location: King Power Stadium, Leicestershire, England
Kick-off time: 5:30 PM GMT, 12:30 AM Eastern, 09:30 AM Pacific
SB Nation Opposition Blog: The Short Fuse
It was an underwhelming debut as Premier League champions this past weekend for Leicester City, who now face a stiff opponent in Arsenal at the King Power Stadium on Saturday in their bid to get back to the form that helped the Foxes surprise the world against all odds last season.
A disappointing 2-1 loss away to relegation favorites Hull City was met with shouts of disappointment from Foxes' fans, but at the end of the day we've only finished one out of a 38-game schedule with plenty of time remaining for Leicester to recover from a feeling they only experienced three times last season in the Premier League.
However, it doesn't help that the team they're playing is the only one who was able to take a full six points away from the Foxes. The Gunners brought hot-starters Leicester back down to earth with a 5-2 victory at the King Power Stadium last September and completed the double over the Foxes this past February thanks to a late winner from Danny Welbeck.
Leicester fans were greeted with signs this week that things might actually be alright thanks to the news that Riyad Mahrez inked a new four-year deal with the club, marking two Leicester snubs of Arsenal for their superstars that included Jamie Vardy. Nightmarish thoughts from Leicester fans of last season's PFA Players' Player of the Year lining up against the Foxes at the King Power this weekend have been all but dispelled with the deal.
Despite holding on to one of their biggest names, it doesn't help help fill what looked to be Leicester's biggest gap defensively in the midfield from this past weekend. N'Golo Kante's departure to Chelsea left a big hole in the Foxes' starting XI, and the midfield duo of Danny Drinkwater and Andy King didn't look up to par against Hull. Summer signing Nampalys Mendy looks poised to get his first Premier League start and help nullify what is a potent Arsenal attack. Robert Huth is available for the Foxes to help sharpen up the back-line alongside Wes Morgan.
The Gunners put three past Liverpool and still lost in a seven-goal thriller last weekend, joining last year's top-two of Leicester and Spurs with winless debuts to the 2016/17 season. Last season, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez enjoyed a good day out at the King Power last season with the latter notching a hat-trick against the Foxes. He's got four goals in his last two games away to Leicester.