Brendan Rodgers says Arsenal have 'outstanding' player on the bench

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has hailed the ‘quality’ in Arsenal’s squad and says one ‘outstanding’ player has been forced to settle for a place on the bench this season.

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Rodgers’ Leicester will hope to put a dent in Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes on Saturday when the Gunners visit the King Power Stadium.

Despite a recent wobble, Arsenal are two points ahead of defending champions Manchester City at the top of the Premier League going into this weekend’s round of fixtures.

The Gunners have not lifted a league title since 2004 but winning 17 of their 24 games this season has put the club in a strong position to end that drought.

Arsenal will be confident of beating a Leicester side who are just 14th in the Premier League – four points above the relegation zone – and Rodgers says the ‘quality’ in his opponents’ squad is clear to see.

‘They signed two players who are game-changers for them in terms of mentality,’ Rodgers said at his pre-match press conference in reference to former Man City stars Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

‘When you have got the likes of Kieran Tierney on the bench, who is an outstanding player, because of Zinchenko starting, it shows you the quality of the squad.’

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Rodgers won two Scottish Premiership titles at Celtic and almost won the Premier League during his spell at Liverpool.

Asked about Arsenal’s surprising title challenge, he added: ‘You see the excitement there with how Arsenal are playing and you sense the supporters feel they have an opportunity – which they do have.

‘But it’s really not until you get to 10 games to go and then five games to go. If they’re still up there, which I believe they will be, then the expectation on everything and the emotion grows even more.

‘If I look back on that it’s really about trying to manage those aspects. Because when you haven’t won the league for so long, then of course the closer it gets and the closer you are to it, naturally the supporters dream.

‘So the expectation starts to grow even more.’

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, says his team will have to be ‘really good’ to beat Leicester and says the Foxes could have got a result against Manchester United last weekend.

‘I’m really complimentary about them,’ he said. ‘They’re in a really good moment right now and we’re going to have to be really good.’

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