Match report – Player Ratings – Arteta response – Video
Arsenal returned to Premier League glory yesterday with a 4-0 defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road.
The initial team selection wasn’t much different from what you might have predicted, although Kai Havertz replacing Martin Odegaard was an interesting change, and the fact we lost Bukayo Saka in the warm-up required a further adjustment with Noni Madueke replacing him on the right wing.
I thought the opening phase went pretty evenly. Leeds were good at it at home, as you would think, but neither side created clear chances. One shot from distance went over and we created a chance for Martin Zubimendi, but he didn’t make good contact from outside the box.
However, after about twenty minutes we started to apply some pressure, we got a series of corners and after one of them we took the lead. Leeds cleared the ball, Madueke produced nifty footwork and a good cross, and with the defense disorganized after the set-piece, Zubimendi was there to tap in a very good header to make it 1–0. You could tell by the way he celebrated that he wanted to exorcise the ghosts of that mistake last weekend.
In that period from the 20th minute to the goal in the 27th minute we had about 75% possession, and it more or less remained that way until the moment the ball hit the back of the net for the second time. It will go down as a Karl Darlow own goal after the Leeds keeper got involved with his own man and smashed the ball into his own net, but I’m sure Madueke’s corner was on target so morally at least it’s his goal. Maybe the ‘on target’ thing only applies to shots, but I still think he’s struggling not to get the reward for what would have been his first Premier League goal for Arsenal. I bet the Leeds goalkeeper would agree too.
I thought Calvert-Lewin had been lucky to escape booking due to a late, painful-looking foul with his studs on Gabriel, and had clearly become frustrated at not getting a change from William Saliba in their matches. The referee then booked another Leeds player for a nothing challenge a few minutes later. Perhaps the VAR had said something about what he had missed in the earlier incident.
In the second period, during a decent period of possession in Leeds, we had a great opportunity to take the lead further. Leandro Trossard played an excellent first ball that put Viktor Gyokeres behind, but not for the first time this season he took too long to get his shot away, allowing the defender to come back and make a block. In the Premier League you don’t get that extra second or half a second to shoot like in other competitions, and it has to be something he works on in the future.
Mikel Arteta made a number of changes, with Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard replacing Madueke and Havertz, the pair involved in the third goal. The captain played a nice ball down the line for the Brazilian and when he received a cross with his left foot, Gyokeres got over his defender very well to cross in from close range. I think he was obviously fouled too, but luckily we didn’t have to go through a VAR moment because he put it in the back of the net. That’s the kind of movement from the forward that we perhaps didn’t see enough of earlier in the season, so fair play, and hopefully – as with the previous opportunity he missed – that improvement can continue in other aspects of his game.
Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Jesus came on for Piero Hincapie and Gyokeres, and the Brazilian tested the keeper with a powerful close-range header from Jurrien Timber’s cross. With the match inevitably coming to an end, we added some sparkle to the scoreline with an excellent goal to make it 4-0. Calafiori brought it up, whereupon he found Odegaard feeding Jesus in the box. The way he dragged it back and then rolled forward to confuse the defender was fantastic, and he made the most of the space he had created for himself with a great finish into the bottom corner.
Then Mikel Arteta said:
Very, very happy of course. A very impressive achievement, a very impressive result and in the context in which we did it. When you have the difficulty of the game and the opponent we are facing, with their recent form and the playing style they have at the moment and the energy that the stadium brings, then the fact that after three results that were not to our liking in the league, we really wanted to show how much we wanted it, and I think we certainly did that today.
I think this was actually just what the doctor ordered. We needed this after a string of indifferent results in the league, and you can’t argue with the team’s response after last weekend’s disappointment and frustration. Four goals, one clean sheet, three points, extending their lead at the top of the table. The manager showed some tactical flexibility with an interesting setup that saw Havertz playing closer to Gyokeres rather than as a replacement for Odegaard. I don’t think he was brilliant or anything. In fact, he only completed five of nine passes in the hour he played, but that small change in team dynamics was helpful.
Madueke also played his most effective Premier League game for us. He was a bit inconsistent, but the goals contributed to our two-goal lead at half-time. We also scored for each of our centre-forwards. I thought Odegaard looked a lot more like the player we want to see when he comes on. He was involved in the two second half goals and played with a point to prove Zubimendi once again showed his goalscoring talent, and as the match progressed Declan Rice’s influence grew with an impressive midfield that Leeds found difficult to live with.
There has been a lot of discussion, debate and criticism about recent performances, so credit where it’s due. Leeds had lost just one of their last ten games, and many saw this pre-game as a potential banana peel for an Arsenal side who, by the high standards they have set in recent years, were a little under-par. So to go there and win so well, and rightly so, was exactly the way we had to respond.
The minor negatives are Saka’s injury, which Arteta described afterwards as a ‘minus’ so hopefully nothing serious, and reports of an injury to Mikel Merino which we will have to wait and see. But as a way to get back into the league, and ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final, you can’t really ask for more.
Now we wait to see what the other games bring today. I have no hope whatsoever that Man City will drop points, so expect the gap to be reduced to four. But we did our job and did it well, and that’s all we can control. Okay, I’ll leave it for this morning, enjoy your Sunday and I’ll be back tomorrow with more and an Arsecast Extra.
Have a good time folks.
#Leeds #Arsenal