Leicester City's great performance against Arsenal was for the fans, says Claude Puel
Wednesday 9 May 2018 23:47, UK
Leicester City manager Claude Puel hailed the "great performance" that saw his side beat Arsenal 3-1 in their final home game of the season on Wednesday night.
The Foxes came into the clash on the back of a dispiriting five-game winless run in the Premier League, a sequence of results that had placed question marks over the Frenchman's future at the club.
However, Leicester's first league win over Arsenal since 1994 - 22 matches ago - saw the Foxes end their season on a high at the King Power, with Puel delighted with how his team responded to recent setbacks.
"The most important thing is the spirit, pressing and conviction," said Puel after the game.
"It was a great performance. They gave their best and it was important to finish (at home) with a strong game.
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"They played with strong conviction and quality. Beating [Arsenal manager] Arsene [Wenger] is not important for me."
Leicester made the breakthrough thanks to Kelechi Iheanacho's 14th-minute strike, before Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos was sent off just 90 seconds later.
Arsenal briefly fought back to level matters early in the second half via Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's ninth goal since joining the club.
However, Leicester scored twice more in the final 15 minutes via Jamie Vardy's penalty and Riyad Mahrez's well-taken effort to send their fans home happy.
"It's a good feeling to win our last home game of the season," said Puel. "The players wanted to reward the fans tonight, they put in place all the ingredients to win."
