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Leicester 'played like champions' despite defeat at Arsenal, says Jamie Carragher

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In this exclusive Super Sunday clip, both Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher were full of praise for Leicester, despite their eventual 2-1 loss to Arsenal

Leicester performed like champions despite slipping to a late defeat at Arsenal, according to Jamie Carragher.

Claudio Ranieri's team went a goal up at the Emirates, courtesy of a Jamie Vardy penalty, but Arsenal were able to pull level through Theo Walcott, before Danny Welbeck headed home a stoppage-time winner.

However, Carragher felt there was little to fault in the Foxes' performance at the home of one of their title rivals.

"Forget the last-minute goal, Leicester played like champions there, I felt," said Carragher.

"They've come to the Emirates, deservedly gone 1-0 in front, then down to 10 men. How long was it before Arsenal had a shot on target?

"The way they threw their bodies in front of everything, the way they defended. They did perform like champions and they've been very unfortunate there."

Meanwhile, Thierry Henry argued the Gunners did not look like title winners but can take huge confidence from such a dramatic win.

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Image: Jamie Carragher believes Leicester 'played like champions'

"The ending was just like a great movie. Arsenal didn't do enough to win the game at the end of the day, I thought," he said.

"Leicester obviously went down to 10 men which made it easier for Arsenal to play - and what a finish!

"I'm very happy for Danny Welbeck because I see him every day in training and he's suffered a lot not being able to help the team, and he helped the team massively but [Marcin] Wasilewski - what are you doing? To give that free-kick away is crazy.

"[Arsenal] have difficult away fixtures and they had to win today. I don't think they played really well, I don't think that was a great Arsenal. They didn't look like champions but they won the important one."

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was delighted with his 2-1 win over title rivals Leicester

Carragher agreed on the positive impact the result can have on Arsene Wenger's side but says Leicester reaction to the loss could be a more important factor in the title race.

"It's massive [for Arsenal]. The points, obviously, and psychologically, but now the questions will be thrown at Leicester: how will they be able cope with people now questioning them? Can they come back from that?

"We've used the fact that they don't have any midweek games as a bonus for them, a plus, an advantage. It could work the other way now, where they have so long to think, especially the way the lost. Dwelling on that, if they'd have got another three points, how far ahead they would have been.

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Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri was happy with his teams performance despite losing 2-1 to Arsenal

"That's where the questions come, now they've had a setback, how are they going to react? But Thierry is spot on, a crazy decision late in the game when they looked like they'd weathered the storm and it's cost them.

"We mentioned at half-time that the big players have to step up, I don't think Sanchez or Ozil were fantastic but Ozil again gets the assist for the winning goal."

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