Arsenal’s title defence might soon be spared some jeopardy by events elsewhere, but the Premier League is no place for those who would rather jog to the line than sprint. It’s a point that won’t be lost on Mikel Arteta, even in victory.For this was an ugly, unconvincing win and the kind that owed as much to the tiring legs of Leeds as it did to the qualities of the team that beat them.Of course, we can make a virtue of the fighting spirit needed to retrieve a 1-0 deficit. And we should. But it is equally true that Arsenal were trapped between complacency and an off-day for prolonged periods of this match and that hasn’t been a charge they have faced often in the past 14 months or so.An irrelevant dip? Perhaps. Academic? That depends on Manchester City, because if they somehow avoid a points deduction, Enzo Maresca’s side look fractionally more effective through the early stages of this campaign.In the minutiae of the first half here, Arsenal were joltingly poor; they weren’t outplayed in the style of their defeat against Brighton, but they were worse in the ways that they shrank from the physical battle. Worse in how willing they were to go with the flow. Worse in the details of how James Justin was able to score early in the second halfPinpointing that moment, we could see Declan Rice is yet to return to full sharpness, despite being rested by Thomas Tuchel across the past fortnight. We can never accuse Rice of not trying, but he was easily outrun by Gabriel Gudmundsson in the key phase of the attack, which was compounded when Noni Madueke failed to track Justin’s surge up the opposite flank. Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench to score a crucial winner as Arsenal defeated Leeds 2-1 James Justin fired the visitors ahead in the 55th minute, threatening an upset at the Emirates Riccardo Calafiori continued his fine form scoring Arsenal’s equaliser just after the hour mark MATCH FACTS Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Raya 6; White 7 (Timber 63, 7), Konsa 7, Gabriel 6, Calafiori 8 (Hincapie 82); Rice 6, Lewis-Skelly 5 (Guimaraes 63, 7); Saka 6, Odegaard 7 (Merino 90), Madueke 6; Havertz 5 (Gyokeres 63, 6)Subs not used: Arrizabalaga, Zubimenid, Eze, DowmanBooked: OdegaardManager: Mikel Arteta 7Leeds (3-4-2-1): Trafford 7; Justin 7 (Nmecha 79), Elvedi 7 (Bijol 86), Muharemovic 7; Bogle 7 (Bahoya 86), Ampadu 6, Tanaka 7 (Wilson 71, 6), Gudmondsson 7; Stach 6, Okafor 6 (Aaronson 71, 6); Calvert-Lewin 7Subs not used: Zetterer, Bard, Gruev, LongstaffBooked: Tanaka, Ampadu, JustinManager: Daniel Farke 7Referee: Paul Tierney 7 <!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/sport/football/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->
It was a bad goal to concede and it was almost followed by a second that would have made a real drama of this match. Arsenal survived those attempts, however, and relocated enough class and grit to capitalise when the effort finally told on Daniel Farke’s resources. Unbeaten in the league before this game, Leeds had run themselves into exhaustion.The leveller was converted by Riccardo Calafiori, whose gifts continue to show in all areas of the pitch, and the winner soon followed from Bruno Guimaraes, whose £75million signing has not yet led to regular starting roles. After an inauspicious beginning at the club, and having delivered an outright stinker against Brighton, he began on the bench here and delivered a fine finish to follow the screamer he scored against Sunderland. It might serve as a launchpad to rounder performances.For Arteta, there was doubtless some relief around the outcome and the return from injury for key personnel after a few uncertainties arose in the international break.Christos Tzolis was unavailable with a muscular injury sustained with Greece but Kai Havertz and Ezri Konsa were passed fit, as was Rice, though his role in Guimaraes’s winner was an isolated high in his day. He still lacks sharpness.Of those coming in, Havertz’s inclusion despite the niggles of a hamstring issue was primarily interesting for what it told us about Viktor Gyokeres’s status. Having scored four in four for Sweden across the past fortnight, the expectation was that he might find himself back in Arteta’s favour, so a place among the substitutes for the first hour was jarring.Ordinarily, Arteta’s wisdom wouldn’t be questioned with any great enthusiasm and there are few volunteers willing to mount an argument for Gyokeres. But the first half here offered little vindication for Arteta.Madueke had a couple of moments of joy in his duel with Jayden Bogle, but the rest of the unit were forgettable – Bukayo Saka got nowhere against Gudmundsson, Martin Odegaard got stuck in the traffic of Leeds’s midfield and Havertz was too often isolated.None of which happened by accident, of course. Daniel Farke has built his success this season on an excellent defence and a reliable goalkeeper in James Trafford, but there is also the benefit of calling upon big men. If Brighton set a blueprint prior to the break by pressing and hassling Arsenal out of their patterns, then Leeds showed the advantage of old-fashioned strength in the challenges. Usually, Arteta’s side can hold their own in that regard but here they found themselves being pushed around. It was a pivotal win for Mikel Arteta’s side, who were beaten 3-0 by Brighton before the break Leeds United suffered their first defeat of the season after an excellent start to the campaignOccasionally, that went to ugly places – namely, Ao Tanaka and Ethan Ampadu’s bookings for clattering Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ben White – but Leeds also forced the best chances of the opening 45 minutes. Farke’s wing backs were a riddle that Arteta struggled to solve.Eventually, the package shaped into a Leeds breakthrough early in the second half, when Gudmundsson was able to beat Rice in a race to the left-hand byline before rolling low to Justin, who had set off on his own mission up the right. Madueke, so dangerous on the ball but weaker off it, had eyes on Justin but didn’t pursue him. Poor.It might have got worse for Arteta, but Noah Okafor fell a fraction short of reaching Bogle’s cross. At 2-0, Arsenal might have been lost, but Calafiori’s equaliser reset the scale and the triple substitution that followed it proved inspired, as it brought Guimaraes into play and sent Rice into a more advanced positon.Both men thrived in the recalibration, with Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard involved before a fabulous Rice flick opened a path for Guimaraes to stroke past Trafford from the edge of the area. A moment of class in a gritty win.