The trendy thing to do heading into today’s match was to doubt Arsenal, to find reasons why they’d continue to stumble, and to play up Leeds’ chances of getting a result against the Premier League leaders at Elland Road. The problem is when you peddle cheap narratives like that, you often wind up looking foolish. […]
The trendy thing to do heading into today’s match was to doubt Arsenal, to find reasons why they’d continue to stumble, and to play up Leeds’ chances of getting a result against the Premier League leaders at Elland Road. The problem is when you peddle cheap narratives like that, you often wind up looking foolish. Arsenal made a lot of people look quite foolish today. The Gunners steamrolled Leeds 4-0 to help cure their slight malaise, lay down a bit of a marker, and restore their 7-point lead atop the table ahead of tomorrow’s matches.
Mikel Arteta seems to have hit all the right notes in his team meeting earlier this week and his players responded with an excellent away performance, the biggest away win of the season so far. Arteta went with a more physical lineup to start, which matched up well with Leeds’ high pressure, rough play. The home crowd were up for the match and their noise and fervor seemed to be influencing referee decisions. For the opening 25 minutes, it felt like it might be one of those matches — Arsenal control the game, get kicked all over the pitch without protection, get whistled for a bunch of fouls that aren’t being called the other way, and something weird / annoying decides a close game for the other team.
In a half of football without much of anything from open play, Arsenal unsurprisingly opened the scoring from a set piece. Well technically from the second phase of a set piece but still. The Gunners recycled the ball to Noni Madueke, who started because Bukayo Saka felt something in warmups, to fire in an excellent cross. Martin Zubimendi ran across the near post and deftly guided a header into the back of the net.
Arsenal doubled their lead eleven minutes later when Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlowe punched a Madueke corner into his own net. Set piece again ole ole, own goal again ole ole. That it goes down as an own goal is a bit unfair to Noni Madueke. His corner was curling into the goal and would have gone in on it’s own. Madueke had an excellent game, especially considering he wasn’t expecting to start. It’s unfair to Darlow too, who was well put off his punch by teammate Dominic Calvert-Lewin jumping with and into him at the near post. It’s not unfair to DCL, who minutes earlier got away without a yellow card for a nasty studs to ankle and foot challenge on Gabriel that, in my opinion, merited review for a possible red card.
The Arsenal second goal drew that prolific scorer Owen Goal level with Viktor Gyokeres for the team lead in PL goals with five. But the Swede reclaimed his spot atop the stats sheet midway through the second half (but not before he was too slow to shoot and was charged down from behind after being in on goal). In the 68th minute, substitute Gabriel Martinelli ran down a long ball in the corner. He worked himself free for a cross and hit an absolute peach of a ball. Gyokeres fought through a foul and touched it home. It was exactly the type of goal Arsenal brought Big Vik in to score and it put the game to bed.
Until Gyokeres’ goal, Leeds had been dominating the ball. It’s tough to say the home side were “on top” for that period because the possession was entirely sterile. Arsenal were happy to let them knock it around the middle third and perimeter. Anytime Leeds tried to penetrate and get the ball into a dangerous area, they were calmly rebuffed. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been feasting on action in the box from the penalty spot and in this season. But if the ball doesn’t get into that space, he can’t do much of anything. The Arsenal CBs consistently outmatched him — in the air, on physical strength, and on quickness to balls into him on the ground.
The opening 15-20 minutes of the second half weren’t pretty to watch, although I’d bet Mikel Arteta loved it. Leeds had three shots in the entire match and the only one on target was a tame header from a corner. The Gunners were extremely effective, completely blunting the home side’s attacking, burning 20 minutes off the clock at 2-0 up, and converting their second big chance to put the game away by stretching it to 3-0.
From 60 minutes on, Arsenal had 10 shots, good for 1.8 xG and 2 goals. That’s how you kill off a game. Gabriel Jesus, who nearly scored immediately after coming on for Gyokeres, got the Arsenal fourth in the 86th minute. Martin Ødegaard found the Brazilian with an excellent progressive pass threaded between defenders. Gabby J’s control and turn was excellent, but it looked as if the opportunity had gone when he didn’t immediately pull the trigger. So often Gabriel Jesus takes that extra touch or two and ends up having his shot blocked. This time, he worked a second shooting window and calmly put the ball into the corner.
Today’s match was a case-in-point example of why teams don’t play high pressure, more open football against Arsenal in the Premier League. The Gunners will match you for intensity, strength, and speed, grind you down, and smash you to bits once your legs have gone. As the clock ticked down, the announcers lamented that Leeds didn’t give it more of a go against Arsenal. But they did! They tried to play their way. They pressed high, played physical football, and got battered for doing it.
Leeds United have a -11 goal difference this season, -9 of that has come against Arsenal. Before today, they’d only lost once since the start of December. They’ve been particularly good at Elland Road. The Gunners went in there and made them look like a Championship side.
It feels a bit odd to say because the Premier League leaders should be winning away to the 16th-place side, but this was an excellent performance by Arsenal and a quality win. Everyone spent the week questioning Arsenal’s credentials and mettle. People wondered whether the second-leading scorers in the Premier League could score enough goals to win the title. The team responded in a big way — two goals from set pieces, two goals from strikers in open play, and smothering defense.
Over to you, Manchester City and Aston Villa. Will “struggling” Arsenal pick up points on their pursuers or will we end the weekend as we started it, just with one fewer game in which they might reel in the leaders?
Category: General Sports
