Leicester boss Steve Cooper fumes after Arsenal loss as referee dug out for two decisions

Steve Cooper struggled to hide his fury after Leicester City were denied a point by Arsenal, who scored two late goals to earn a dramatic victory. The Foxes were just minutes away from a hard-fought draw at the Emirates Stadium but were undone in stoppage time.

A brace from James Justin saw Leicester draw level after Arsenal had raced into a two-goal lead before the break. The visitors defended valiantly in their efforts to secure a point but were eventually beaten, with Wilfred Ndidi deflecting the ball into his own net.

Kai Havertz added a fourth for Arsenal in the dying seconds, leaving the Foxes empty-handed at the final whistle.

In his post-match interview, Cooper suggested that Leicester should have been awarded a free-kick in the build-up to Arsenal's first goal. He also said that Riccardo Calafiori was fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for a foul on Facundo Buonanotte.

"It was disappointing with the way we concede the goals because they are typical Arsenal goals with the cut-backs, we've done a lot of work trying to deal with that," said Cooper.

"I don't want to make the headlines around referees, because I'm trying to take responsibility for a team trying to do better in the Premier League, but it's a clear foul on Jamie Vardy for the first goal and the left-back has to get sent off for a second yellow.

"There's so much more we could say. The whole game knows, but I'm not going down that road today."

Cooper insisted that he was proud of his players in spite of the result, with Leicester digging deep to give themselves a fighting chance after being dominated by Arsenal in the first half.

"Tough one to take, to be fair," he added. "Proud of the second half performance particularly. If it's a team that's not together. It was great to score as early as we did in the second half and then go to 2-2.

"You know you are going to suffer here at times against a really good time like Arsenal at the Emirates. I felt like we were coping really well. To have that deflection for the third goal is just a bit of where our luck is, but then the fourth goal is against the run of play.

"It's another loss and the results always write the narrative but there was so much to be positive about, particularly in the second half and we've got to try and keep going keep capitalising on what is going okay and just improve."