Leicester City host Arsenal in a Premier League showdown on Saturday lunchtime, and Ruud van Nistelrooy couldn’t have picked a worse time to play the title-chasers.
The Foxes were dumped out of the FA Cup on Friday night as Manchester United beat Leicester City 2-1 in controversial circumstances.
It added to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s current issues as his side have lost eight of their last nine Premier League matches and have dropped into 18th position.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 18 |  LeicesterLeicester | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 25 | 53 | -28 | 17 |
Unfortunately, there are no easy games in the top-flight and Leicester host Arsenal this weekend who are fresh from thrashing Manchester City 5-1.
The title-chasing Gunners are unbeaten in six of their last seven matches and will sense blood when they travel to the King Power Stadium.
Moreover, the refereeing appointment for the match will perhaps cause some controversy after what happened in the reverse fixture.
Sam Barrott is the referee for Leicester City vs Arsenal in the Premier League
As the odds are stacked against the hosts from securing a positive result, they will need everything to go their way, including the refereeing decisions.
Leicester were on the receiving end of an awful error on Friday as the linesman failed to flag Harry Maguire offside when he headed the ball past Mads Hermansen.
With no VAR in the FA Cup fourth round, the officials couldn’t turn to the technology either as Van Nistelrooy’s men were cruelly dumped out of the competition.
The Dutchman will be hoping for more luck this weekend, although the appointment of Sam Barrott as the referee won’t fill many with confidence.
Barrott officiated the reverse fixture as Leicester were beaten 4-2 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in September, with the Englishman getting one decision horribly wrong.
Sam Barrott failed to send Riccardo Calafiori off in Arsenal vs Leicester
An entertaining game played out in North London in September. A double from James Justin dragged the Foxes back from 2-0 down in the second half.
However, a late flurry from Arsenal late on, scoring in the 94th and 99th minute, saw the hosts clinch a 4-2 victory.
The game could have been completely different, though, had Riccardo Calafiori been handed a second yellow card for his challenge on Facundo Buonanotte.
Gary Lineker agreed Calafiori should have been sent off and so did the manager at the time Steve Cooper, who expressed his anger towards the officials.
“We were very disappointed with a foul not being given on Vards for the first goal,” Cooper said in his post-match press conference. “And although we don’t come into games trying to get players sent off, why he hasn’t sent off Calafiori is a little bit beyond belief.”
Barrott was dropped by the Premier League for the next round of fixtures after his horrendous showing in this clash, and Leicester fans will hope there are no more errors up his sleeve this weekend.