Per Mertesacker returned, underfire, to the Arsenal side after Gabriel was ruled out with a thigh injury.

The Arsenal captain (vice-captain, but stand-in for Mikel Arteta) has come under increasing criticism this season from people who either don’t watch or don’t understand football, and held up as a scapegoat for the side’s defensive shortcomings.

While everyone mused on how big a mug Jamie ‘let’s go down’ Vardy would tear into him, Per was more than an adequate match for everything that was thrown at him against the People’s Champions.

Speaking after the game, Per admitted that both sides got lucky – Leicester with the penalty and Arsenal with the red card.

“We have to take it [the penalty].

Per Mertesacker warms up ahead of the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium in London on January 24, 2016. AFP PHOTO / IKIMAGES
Things are warming up AFP PHOTO / IKIMAGES

“They were maybe a bit lucky with the penalty but if there is contact then it is a penalty.

“On the second occasion when they got a player sent off, we might have been a bit lucky.

“That is the game.

“We tried to stick to our game and not be influenced by the referee’s decision. That is what we tried to do the whole game and I think it makes a difference in the end.

“If you think too much about situations then you will lose yourself and we kept going and that is why we won today.”

We’ll agree with you on the first one, Per, but not the second.

Simpson deserved to go. As did Danny Drinkwater and probably Marcin Wasilewski as well.