Arsenal vs Leeds United

 Arsenal vs Leeds United (4-2)

Arsenal arguably played some of their best football in months in the first half against Leeds United. Today we saw Martin Odegaard start his first game for Arsenal and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Leeds United decided to play out from the back as usual which saw Arsenal press high up on the field since the very first minute. Leeds had a few changes in their lineup which saw Shackleton start and also missing out on Kalvin Phillips due to a muscle injury, and his absence was felt during the game as leeds looked quite spineless in the midfield in the first half.

There was a discussion going around on whom to start? Odegaard or Emile Smith Rowe and Mikel Arteta ended up starting both of them to end the discussion, seeing ESR shift as their left attacking midfielder in their 4231 formation. The midfield three were brilliant in the first half where Saka was causing troubles for Allioski and Cooper since the initial minutes of the game. Cedric however looked uncomfortable while playing at left back as naturally being a right back, even though he didn’t cause any game changing errors, he couldn't fill Kieren Tierney’s boots. Aubameyang opened the scoring by dribbling past Luke Ayling and striking it into the near post of Meslier and even though he got a hand on it, it wasn’t enough to stop it from ending up in the back of the net. During the game, it felt like Arsenal were at times playing without a Striker as Aubameyang usually ended up on the left flank. at the 34th minute, a penalty was awarded to Arsenal after Saka bursted goalwards and was nudged off the ball by Cooper, although it did seem like a foul at first, after several replays it appeared to look like Saka was going down when Cooper went across him. However, after 4 minutes, Saka caught Meslier off guard and knicked the ball away from him which led to Meslier fouling Saka, and this penalty was given with no doubt. Aubameyang scores a brilliant pen blasting it on the side netting of the left side and sends Mesleir the wrong way. Again, after 4 minutes we saw Saka running around the box  and then after some passing in around the box, Ceballos picked out a beautifull pass to Hector Bellerin sending it between the legs of a leeds defender and Bellerin struck it into the near post to make the score 3-0. 

In the second half, Arsenal again get off to a brilliant start where Smith Rowe crosses the ball into the box and Aubameyang hits a diving header into the goal, the game seemed to be over then and there, but there was a lot more to come. Having gone 4 down in 47 minutes, a team would’ve usually lost all faith and hope and would get into damage control, but Leeds played with same motivation and heart as the start of the game. at the 58th minute, Strujik runs near goal and leaves David Luiz behind and heads it goalwards and Leeds score from the corner. This was far from a consolation goal, as leeds rushed back to prevent wastage of time and try to get on with the comeback. At the 62nd minute, Willian is subbed on for Emile Smith Rowe which makes me wonder whether Willian has a gametime amount set in on his contract with gunners, due to Mikel Arteta picking him over the likes of an in form Pepe or Gabriel Martinelli. Even though he didn’t have a negative impact on the game, Nicolas Pepe seemed to have a hunger to correct his mistake which he made against Leeds a few months ago and this would’ve been the perfect opportunity for him to finish the game. In the next few minutes, Leeds create another chance which saw Helder Costa lash it into the goal against Leno and he makes it 4-2. The comeback now seemed possible and the Leeds players got on with the game without wasting any time. There are shouts from the Leeds players for a penalty when Patrick Bamford gets sandwiched between Cedric and Gabriel but the ref ignored the shouts and got on with the game. Aubameyang hit the crossbar after a counter break by the gunners and Saka also hit the frame of the goal but was offside.

Arsenal ended the game with 3 points and played some really creative football and Odegaard looked promising in his first start for Arsenal, Leeds style of playing out from the back did end up losing the game for them and had they played as they did in the second half, there could’ve been a completely different scoreline