Leicester Boss Puel Hails Foxes' Mentality & Desire During Impressive Arsenal Victory

Leicester City recorded their first Premier League victory against Arsenal since 1994 on Wednesday, thanks to goals from Kelechi Iheanacho, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.

Former Manchester City striker Iheanacho fired the ball home from early on and Leicester should have been further ahead at the half time break. A close-range effort from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brought the scores level, before a Jamie Vardy penalty and a late finish from Mahrez sealed all three points for the Foxes. 

Reflecting after the game, Leicester boss Claude Puel hailed his players for their 'good mentality' and possessing key characteristics for victory.

“I think it was a great performance,” Puel told lcfc.com. “It was a fantastic game with good intensity and a lot of chances. Congratulations to my players because they had a good mentality and showed aggressiveness, passion and desire in their game. They gave their best.

“I think it was important to finish at home with a strong game. I thought it would be difficult to win this game but the most important thing was to finish at home with a good performance, with quality, and to give a reward to our fans because they have been fantastic since the beginning of the season with all their support for the team."

The Foxes turned around a poor run of form, including a recent 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace and a 2-0 home defeat to West Ham last weekend. Puel is pleased that his side put in a 'performance with quality' to reward the fans for their unwavering support.

“It was important to reward them because the last game was poor at home," he said. "It was a performance with quality but perhaps we wasted some good chances. With just one goal the situation allowed them to come back into the game but we kept a good intensity and played with conviction.

“We pressed them a lot and now I hope they can keep this in their memories about the quality, the good play on the floor, the chances when they play forwards with intensity, tempo and speed. The most important thing for me is the desire. They have the ability to play their game like this with good conviction and focus, and we showed a fantastic quality. It is great to finish with this performance at home.

“I say the most important thing is to put this spirit, aggressiveness and pressing and conviction. It was their game. They wanted to finish with a good feeling with the fans and it was a good response. It was important to finish with this quality game.”