Arsenal fightback stuns Leicester in relentless 7-goal season opener

The Premier League is back - and with a bang.

Arsenal hosted Leicester City in Friday's season opener, and a match blessed with errors, enterprising attacking play, and even tactical adaptability by Arsene Wenger ended 4-3 in the Gunners' favour.

Substitute Olivier Giroud was the hero in the 85th minute, directing Granit Xhaka's corner in via the crossbar to compete a pulsating comeback.

The visitor was best for a fair chunk of the match, and was unfortunate to go into the interval at 2-2 when Danny Welbeck pocketed a scrappy equaliser moments before the half-time whistle.

The breathless encounter didn't let up in the second stanza, despite the teams undoubtedly feeling the rigours of the pre-season programme. Jamie Vardy put the Foxes back ahead after 11 minutes, but some introductions from the bench helped execute a thrilling win for a delirious home support.

The Emirates Stadium clash was the first time the opening match of a Premier League campaign was staged on a Friday evening, and if this was a sign of things to come, football fans are in for an annual treat.

It took £46.5-million Alexandre Lacazette only 95 seconds to get on the score sheet, making him the first debutant to score for Arsenal since Thomas Vermaelen in 2009. It was an emphatic header, finishing off a delightful team move from Arsenal.

Merely 160 seconds later, the Foxes were level. Marc Albrighton played a short one-two on a corner, and his deep, whipped delivery found the considerable frame of new boy Harry Maguire. The Sheffield lad has the look of someone who was raised on a diet of Yorkshire puddings and slices of parkin, but showed the athleticism of a whippet trained on the Dales when he rose at the back stick to nod the ball across goal. Shinji Okazaki was similarly alert, leaping above Granit Xhaka to plant a header beyond Petr Cech.

The game then briefly settled into something more closely resembling a season opener - new tactical approaches not fully conceived, and loose squanderings of possession - until Vardy put Leicester ahead.

Questions were again levelled at Xhaka, whose pass to absolutely nowhere was gratefully gobbled up by Albrighton. The ex-Aston Villa winger's delivery caused problems once more, finding Vardy's run for the hitman to smash into the roof of the mesh.

Leicester was on top, and continued to exploit gaps behind Wenger's wing-backs, but a fortuitous goal in the dying seconds put Arsenal level. There were shades of offside as Lacazette swivelled to prod a ball in the vague direction of Sead Kolasinac, who was then left with the easy task of squaring the ball to Welbeck.

Early evidence after the break was that Leicester's warnings were not heeded. The Gunners faltered at another cross, as Riyad Mahrez's corner was met by an unmarked Vardy after 56 minutes. The former non-league player headed in his fifth goal in five outings against Arsenal.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Oft-maligned for rarely making changes to his system from the technical area, Wenger upset the droves baying for his blood by changing his disorientated back-three into a quartet on 67 minutes. It was done in unconventional fashion, with the Frenchman effectively fielding four full-backs or wing-backs across the backline; from right to left, the new-look back-four read: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Nacho Monreal, Kolasinac, and Hector Bellerin.

It worked. Arsenal continued to prod at the Foxes' resistance, until Aaron Ramsey, who was among those 67th-minute introductions, was one of three lining up undetected in the Leicester box. He made no mistake, and gave Arsenal hopes of all three points with seven minutes of normal time remaining.

As is often the case when the Gunners produce last-minute heroics, Giroud was the protagonist. He valiantly fought off the attentions of Maguire and Wes Morgan in scoring the winner, and the creator of the tally, Xhaka, certainly atoned for his earlier errors with his assist.

An enthralling way to start the new season, and a win that Wenger, who had the guts to make risky swaps, should bask in.