I believe it was 87 degrees here yesterday on October 16th, 2022. We have had less than an inch of rain in the last 115 days and consequently the forests all around Seattle and Tacoma are aflame. Air quality index here has hit 150+ almost every day for a month and my car has a fine layer of ash on it. No point in even taking it to the car wash, the ash falls all day every day. The good news is that it’s supposed to rain this weekend (perhaps). The bad news is that in a few weeks we are supposed to be in for a long, cold, winter of snow, ice, and torrential rains.
But Arsenal won. So, I guess it’s not all bad.
Arsenal played like shit, however (so it’s still all bad!) and were largely played off the field by an energetic and aggressive Leeds United. If Leeds had a better striker, this game would have probably been a big loss for Arsenal.
Of course I will take three points. Especially on a day when Man City have lost to Liverpool. That puts Arsenal 4 points clear at the top of the table.
And once again, I’d like to reiterate that I don’t see Arsenal as legitimate title contenders. Top four for sure but the game yesterday showed exactly why Arsenal aren’t title contenders: we still haven’t figured out how to play under pressure.
We should be worried that Leeds United should have won the game. And we should be worried that their pressure was able to utterly dismantle Arsenal. Arsenal managed just three shots from the 36th minute onwards. That’s over 60 minutes of football with a combined xG of somewhere like 0.19.
We couldn’t counter attack, we could barely string together a few passes, we didn’t seem to win any of the second balls, and when we did pass the ball it seemed to either be into space where no one was playing, or directly to one of their defenders.
I know that this will elicit groans but where was Granit Xhaka? Watching the game, you could be excused if you forgot he was playing. If you look at his full-time stats line, it’s not too terrible in the passing department. He made 38/44 passes yesterday, 86%. Not terrible, especially when you see that Leeds United had a season high 230 pressures and won the ball back 63 times, the most pressure that Arsenal have seen so far this season. But it’s everything else on his stat sheet that was the problem. In the second half, for example, he only had 17 touches and completed a mere 9/12 passes. He played the full 51 minute half. He just wasn’t involved. His other stats were just as bad. 0 tackles, 4 pressures. FOUR? Not in a half. In the entire game. I know that Arteta has reduced his workload and asked him to play a different role but in that second half the game just passed him by and we had no help in midfield. We’ve been told lately that he’s a leader on the pitch and in the dressing room and I have no reason to disbelieve that but yesterday he had one of the worst games I’ve seen from him at Arsenal.
In a game where the opponent is pressing you, having a player go AWOL is extra painful. You need to have that outlet player to pass to. As the pressing team applies pressure, someone needs to move and open up space so that your team can play the ball into that space and break the pressure. And you could see it in the game: Arsenal made a number of passes in the second half where they played the ball to an open space where a player was supposed to be, but no one was home.
There is a suggestion that fatigue was the problem but again that doesn’t quite jibe with the facts. Benjamin White, Saliba, Øde, and Saka were the only four players to start against Bodø/Glimt and they were undeniably our best players yesterday.
Another canard I’ve heard is that the delay at the start of the game caused the Arsenal players to stutter. But again, the first half was largely fine from Arsenal, it was the second half where we struggled. And also, unless I’m mistaken, both teams had the same delay.
I do know that players eat food at specific times in order to fuel their bodies before the games, so maybe Leeds were able to eat again and Arsenal weren’t? That could be the issue but I’ve not heard anyone say that. All I know is that every one of our passes was hit three yards short in that second half and that Xhaka went missing. So, maybe we were fatigued. Maybe we didn’t have the fuel needed to sustain the full 90 minutes. Or maybe we had a really bad day at the office and failed to adjust to the conditions.
Saliba had an excellent game for the most part. He handled the Leeds pressure with the coolness of a 20 year professional, turning himself out of trouble, and starting Arsenal’s attacks. But knowing the Gods are a vindictive lot, I knew that a mistake was coming. And sure enough, a handball. Saliba’s face betrayed him as well, contorted into a grimace of regret. The official was right to award the penalty.
Or was he?
NBC showed the buildup to the play and sure enough there was a player so far offside and with the 18 yard box providing us all with a perfect line, that I don’t even feel bad using a screengrab:
The penalty shouldn’t have been awarded and I don’t know why it was. I know that Dermot Gallagher says that the off side was in a different phase of play (because we cleared) but I swear I’ve seen these called back, many times. But regardless of the slip up (or not) of VAR, importantly, Bamford missed, and as we used to say back when I played basketball: the ball doesn’t lie.
That linesman would go on to have a very bad, not at all good, day at the office. This was the same official who later on would both somehow miss Bamford’s foul on Gabriel and then also see Gabriel’s very slight kick out and exaggerate it into a red card. Both of these things would later be reversed by the official at the urging of VAR.
Gabriel has had a few matches now which could be called “not great.” He is a key player for Arsenal and adds a lot to the attack and defense. But he’s also prone to idiotic mistakes and has more than a few moments like the kick out in this game which could be exploited by more sinister opponents. I am not looking forward to the game against Wolves, where Gabriel will almost certainly be goaded into doing something brain dead by the great villain, Diego Costa.
Overall, though, Arsenal won and Arteta and Ramsdale both praised Arsenal’s grit, determination, and defending. I think that’s fair enough. We can’t win every game playing pretty passes (which we had in the first half!) and scoring goals for fun. Sometimes, you just go to a place like Leeds and have them run all over you and you just have to get the win any way you can.
For me, Xhaka was never as bad as everyone has made him out to be over the years. The proof being Arsenal’s points with him v/s without him. Similarly, he is not as good as he is being made out to be currently. In fact, I don’t even think this new role plays to his strengths. He lacks the pace to get on the end of through balls, he is very left footed and he can barely dribble.
Also, I don’t get the left back coming into midfield thing, especially when the ball is in our half. I mean Xhaka just moves to the left back position and the left back becomes a midfielder. Logically, that’s 2 players in their non optimum positions. When we are in the Final third it makes sense as it prevents counerattacks. But say we had a double piviot where the midfielder is capable of covering the flanks, then the full back going forward to provide width would achieve the same results.
What I am trying to say is that when the team is winning all tactics look good. For yesterday’s game I do beleve that Leeds were great. Combine that with our Thursday trip we would probably have dropped points in most cases. We didn’t. These are the games where getting 3 points would ensure we build a gap with the top 4/ top 2 contenders.
Really great point about players not in their optimum positions. It is very odd. I don’t understand what advantage it gives.
as for the idea that we would have lost this one last year, I thought the same thing and so I went and looked at the record and actually, they played the exact same way last year away (tons of pressure and it was a difficult game) and we won 4-2.
I think last year we took our chances brilliantly. I think we went 3 goals up in the first half. Also, I am not necessarily comparing us to the last season. Because Arsenal were pretty good in a lot of games. We lost it last season due to a lack of depth. But say in seasons where we had long europa runs we would have dropped points. I may be wrong on this but that is my perception.
I’d guess overlaps/switches/inversions throw off the press. Creates questions for the defense similar to going over or under the screen in basketball. On the left, Zinchenko knows how to create those doubts and recover position better than Tomiyasu (Tomi is better at that aspect of the game on the right).
Tomi on the left is better as a match up against oppositions best attacker (Salah) but maybe that wasn’t the way to go yesterday.
I think the whole concept of a full back occupying a midfield slot was so that the attacking midfielders could push further back. Pep used it for the first time in Bayern but he had the very intelligent and versatile Philip Lahm for this role. Mikel possibly wishes to replicate that using ZInchenko, Still haven’t quite understood how this can survive against speedy attacks from the flank. Fully agree with QWERTY that it puts two players in sub optimal roles.
I think I answer this in today’s post
How can fatigue not be the issue? That was Arsenal’s 5th match in October, the second in three days. For Leeds, it was their 3rd match in October, their 2nd in 7 days. Arsenal matched Leeds’ intensity for the first 30 minutes or so, then faded badly. How’s fatigue not the issue again? We’ve seen City, Liverpool stumble in the league after European matches in recent years. And the scheduling is much worse this year.
And what’s up with your continuous insistence that Arsenal are not title contenders? We are fans, can’t we dream? You want us to refuse to dream, to hope, because at the beginning of the season, no one expected we were contenders? Dreams, hopes, aspirations, are these not what makes sports magical?Arsenal winning the title is nowhere as improbable as Leicester in 2016.
And being a contender is not the same thing as actually winning it. How many points behind City must we end up with to be regarded as having being contenders? Say not more than 5 perhaps? We end up 5 points behind City, would we have been a contender? So City will have had to make up 9 points on us. If we end up 10 points behind them, they would have had to make up 14 points on us.
Are City playing fantastically well enough for you to be dead certain that we’ll lose as much as 14 points to City from here onwards?
Squad depth perhaps? Have you examined their squad really? Sure they have more quality in the back up players than our own back ups, but in terms of numbers, their squad is probably smaller than Arsenal’s. Take a look at their bench in some of their recent matches. They have 20 yr olds or younger on matchday benches. If Haaland gets injured, you think any of their other forwards can effortlessly step in and produce his goals without them missing a beat?
Realistically, I think City are still more likely to win the title than Arsenal, but I don’t think it’s a realistic view that Arsenal are not contenders. Who exactly are the contenders then? If Arsenal are not contenders, then there are no contenders imo.
It’s your view, it’s your blog, but I feel I needed to challenge it. I just don’t agree. I think Arsenal fans should believe we have a shot at the title until such a time that City are at least five points ahead of us. That’s what I’m going to do, and even then, in my innermost heart, I’ll probably be still hoping, until it’s mathematically impossible. And I will have enjoyed the journey up to that point.
Fatigue: Jesus didn’t travel and he was non-existent in this match. Most of the players who started against Leeds didn’t start on Thursday. Our best players were the ones who actually started against Bodoe.
Title contenders: go ahead and believe what you want, I’m just telling you what I think and this is my way of not getting too hurt if the collapse comes. As for some of your other points: 1. Haaland isn’t a lynchpin in their system, they scored 99 goals without him last year, they will be fine if he gets injured. 2. You really think that Arsenal’s squad is deeper than Man City? What happens if #5 can’t play? I like Samba but I think we drop out of contention for top 4 if he is our starting DM. We also don’t have good replacement for Martinelli, Jesus, and Saka. We are a thin squad. 3. I don’t think anyone can beat City to the title this season. Right now, 538 has them at 63% to win the League. Last season, 538 had Liverpool as the 2nd challengers with a 30% chance to win it at this point in the season. This season Arsenal are also 2nd but with a 15% chance to win it.
Here’s the deal, I’m waiting for a while before I start thinking of us as title challengers. If we get to January and we are still top of the League, I’ll probably change my tune. But I’ve been burned WAY too badly with this in the past and I’ll tell you that I’m not even remotely over what happened in 2015/16. That season was incredibly heartbreaking. We have seen an end-of season collapse with Arsenal so often that it’s going to take quite a bit for me to believe that we are legit title contenders.
Again, you do you, I’ll do me. I’m glad you’ll enjoy the journey. I will also enjoy the journey.
I have also stopped short of saying that top four is a must this season but I’m getting closer. I almost said it today. I am starting to believe that if we fail to make top four it will be the single biggest collapse in all my time watching Arsenal, but I’m not quite there yet.
“Of course I will take three points. Especially on a day when Man City have lost to Liverpool. That puts Arsenal 4 points clear at the top of the table”
Hold on, if top 4 is the only thing you’re interested in, then surely Man City failed to do us a favor by losing to Pool? Because Pool dropping points helps us achieve our goal of top 4. City dropping points doesn’t matter, we’re not winning the league.
Like you, I don’t have any hopes for the title. Also like you, I saw Pool as doing us a favor, and celebrated. Some serious cognitive dissonance.
I don’t generally do those sorts of calculations (so and so losing to such and such is good for my team). I’m not that type of person. In fact, my base nature is quite the opposite, which is probably surprising. For me there’s no cognitive dissonance, I almost always celebrate City losing.
“Again, you do you, I’ll do me. I’m glad you’ll enjoy the journey. I will also enjoy the journey.”
Fair enough.
On Haaland and City, they’re definitely not scoring 99 goals this season if he gets injured. Pep sold Sterling and Jesus and got Haaland and Alvarez. Haaland is a freak, but I’ve not seen any reason to believe Alvarez would replace him without missing a beat. He most likely needs time to adapt to European, English football. And it’s just my view, I don’t think the false 9 thing City did last season will work that well in Haaland’s absence. Think Sterling and Jesus were reasonably important components of it.
Then this is not a normal season. The fixture congestion pre and post world cup will keep teams from performing optimally. And we still have world cup burn out and injuries to look forward to, yay! Haaland is not going to the WC, but his supporting cast are.
Even uninjured, Haaland will eventually be figured out to an extent, get tired. He won’t be scoring at this same rate for the whole season. Imo
They are already on pace to score 125 goals this season, just FYI.
What I saw was a physically and mentally fatigued team yesterday. I had to remind myself that most of these kids have never done the full PL-EL grind. Last year had a very light schedule. After the emotionally draining NLD and Liverpool games, playing midweek and then traveling was something new. Leeds had a full week to prep, and were ready and fit to pounce on us. We did a reasonable job in the first half, but couldn’t sustain their pace in the second. I thought Xhaka and Partey were subpar, and Odegaard tired early in the 2nd half. Jesus had his first non-superstar performance of the season as well. We were very fortunate to scrape the 3 points.
It felt a lot like the bad times last season, where we just collapsed and couldn’t string together 3 passes in a row. The subs were probably 10 minutes too late, imo. The second half from Bodo Glimt was a harbinger of yesterday’s second half. We got away with it in Norway, but not at Leeds. The big question is whether we’re on a bad trajectory or if this was just one bad half from an exhausted young team. Arteta has some work to do navigating this 9 games in 30 days stretch.
I don’t think there is a major cause to worry going forward. It will be difficult for other teams to recreate the circumstances that resulted in Arsenal’s second half struggles.
1. Game state is super important. Playing with the lead we were too passive, a recurring theme.
2. We gave them a psychological boost by being a bit sloppy with the ball which resulted in a big response from the crowd. They fed off of that.
3. The Bamford substitution at halftime changed the game. For all the goals he has scored, we were prepared for everything Rodrigo was going to do. When Bamford came on, his direct style put our CB on their heels.
4. Their advantage was basically down to stamina and freshness in both phases. If it was something else then they would’ve dominated the first half and in the second half after Mikel’s subs. They didn’t.
5. People have covered the travel thing. This is a nightmare fixture on 2 days rest.
6. Granit Xhaka was a non factor in this game because Leeds made it an end to end track meet. He’s not going to thrive in that type of game. However I don’t anticipate that type of game becoming a recurring theme.
7. Leeds have the players to play very directly and by turning the game pace up they played into their own strengths. Not a lot of teams have the personnel to play this way and keep it up for that long. I was impressed that they didn’t wear down.
8. Arteta stemmed the tide hby taking off the gassed White and putting Tomi on his flank. He also went to 5-4-1 with Holding as per of a back 3. After that sub I dont remember another instance of them getting behind us. They created one good chance for Summerville but that came from passing interplay. So even if we see this scenario again, we have a play to make to counter it.
Arsenal played on Thursday, returned on Friday, travelled on Saturday played on Sunday
Jesus didn’t travel and he was non-existent in this match. Most of the players who started against Leeds didn’t start on Thursday. Our best players were the ones who actually started against Bodoe.
He must have been carrying an injury. He got beat up by Liverpool last week.
Incredibly irresponsible to play him then. He could have missed out on World Cup which would be devestating.
In those 7 first teamers who travelled and didn’t start, you ignore the effects of flying to Norway, staying overnight in a strange hotel room, sitting on the bench for 60/90 minutes in frigid air and rain, spending another night in that strange hotel room, flying back on Friday then one night at home, travelling up to Leeds on Saturday to another strange hotel room then on Sunday facing the hostility of the Elland Road crowd where its a bear pit. If you haven’t experienced Elland Road hostility, you have no idea of its intensity. I think everyone apart from Ramsdale was below par at Leeds. Saliba had the jitters throughout the second half and that, apart from a couple of confident moments was his worst game since his return. Unusually Gabriel was a rock in comparison and it’s a shame his lapse into a retaliation against Bamford eclipsed that performance. Jesus certainly also had his worst game for us and may still be suffering from the trauma he experienced against the Dippers.
Normally I’m very inline with your assessment of players, but i thought saliba, ode and BW were all well below their usual standards.
I am not sure where your post is taking you. It is an unremittingly negative view of our performance and what else are you implying?
Yes, we had a bad day at the office. We have VAR to thank for what was really a horrible performance by the officials egged on by a baying crowd and a dubious, ie cheating performance by their centre forward. Maybe fatigue, maybe youthful uncertainty. I don’t know.
I have been to Leeds for matches. It is always horrible, as true in the 70’s as I am sure it is now.
We have had the best ever start to the season by any Arsenal side in history. Personally, I think we should cut them some slack. Your earlier anti Managerial stance seems to be showing maybe.
They were our best five players – in the first half. Ben White, Odegaard and Jesus all came off and rightly so, they’d stopped moving for the ball and were looking ragged. Even Saka needed subbing off, Arteta was agitated a few times because Saka hesitated coming a few extra steps for the ball. Saliba was uncharacteristically sloppy and hesitant with some passes. 1000% the game on Thursday affected the second half of the game. Agree that our thin squad showed because we obviously don’t have a quality back-up for Saka.
Interesting you thought Saliba’s passing was off. He hit 92% of his passes, second highest on the team, completed the most passes, and had just one pass out and one pass for a block. I thought he was incredibly solid, considering the pressure that Leeds applied.
I think there’s both physical and mental fatigue. A number of guys hadn’t started in Norway, but they still played (and maybe in retrospect were worryingly below par) Thursday. That means they still had to prepare and travel. They start to feel a different kind of grind and pressure. Jesus might not be fully recovered from the Liverpool injury. These aren’t excuses but more the reality of a young team learning what it’s like to be on top and have everyone gunning for you every time you walk onto the pitch. That’s very new to the team.
It is amusing to me that we are rooting for Arsenal to have a Top 4 finish, and simultaneously asserting that 2 matches a week are beyond the squad’s physical capabilities. In the past we’ve had to manage Wednesday night Champions League and Saturday midday kickoffs (something that inspired the name of this blog).
Im not having it with tiredness as the cause of our second half performance. Three matches in a week for a team with European commitments (Sunday- Wednesday- Saturday) is quite common.
Im more proud of the team for winning under the conditions that they did. And, to Tim’s comment, Im going to enjoy the ride. We ought to qualify for Europe from here. Heck, we ought to qualify given the investment.
But that was a match we could have lost, may have lost 2 seasons ago. 9 wins out of 10 is very, very special, and unlike anything we’ve seen in our time supporting Arsenal.
What can we do? What is our ceiling? I say 2nd; the mid-season world cup, injuries and our usual tough midwinter slog could dictate otherwise. But enjoy the ride, man.
Not sure about the investment being the argument here:
Liverpool 90m
Arsenal 132m
City 139m
Spurs 169m
West Ham 182m
United 240m
Chelsea 282m
No doubt 3 games in a week is standard schedule for top PL teams. My point is the youngest team in the league isn’t mentally or physically prepared for it. They’re not used to playing at such a high level 3 times a week with a target on their backs. It’s entirely different than last season, which was the most competitive one the majority of them have ever known. It’s more frequent AND more intense. Everyone wants to beat the number one team. It can make an opponent’s season. So they come to play us with fire in their bellies. It’s a different pressure than if you’re 4th or 5th.
No one is saying it’s OK they were tired – it’s not. They SHOULD be able to maintain that level and pace. They just didn’t. Winning ugly is definitely an achievement. Just hoping this isn’t indicative of a poor run of form – which will catch up with us quickly.
If you’re not having tiredness as a reason for the poor performance, what’s your alternative explanation? Leeds are probably the most physically intense side in the league, the worst team you want to play after a 2000 mile round trip to Norway. Especially as Leeds were well rested. And the Bodø/Glimt game was tough, make no mistake. Just take a look at their home European record. They thrashed Roma 6-1for instance. Maybe a combination of the weather, the artificial pitch. I also thought the pitch looked a bit small, though maybe that’s just the small stadium that gave that impression.
Yes, three matches in a week is common for teams in Europe, but again teams in Europe are also more likely to slip up in the league after European matches. City did for example. Sure Liverpool were in Europe too, but a short trip to Rangers and a stroll to a huge win definitely suited them better than City’s draw after an early red card. The 1-0 scorelines flattered City a lot. Liverpool created 5 big chances to City’s 1, but wayward finishing did for them. Then Darwin Nunez being an Uruguayan Sanofi didn’t help too. City should have lost that match by up to 3 goals, on the balance of chances and situations that Liverpool created.
A good team suddenly losing all control of the match, making bad passes, after halftime when you would expect the Manager would have reinforced his tactics for the game. That’s a tired team
The players who were most affected by “tiredness” were the players who didn’t play or played just a few minutes (Xhaka, Gabriel, Jesus, Tomiyasu, Partey). The players who did play against Bodo (Saka, Ode, Saliba, White) all were great during their time on the pitch and were subbed off (Saliba didn’t get subbed off).
That last 30 minutes of football, after Arteta made the changes was atrocious. I think that’s why so many of us aren’t convinced by the tiredness excuse.
“Sure Liverpool were in Europe too” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. But carry on.
Two bad games consecutively. If you are in the school of thought that good teams know how to win ugly games then you are more likely to take the points and forget this game. If you are from the other school of thought, that winning while playing badly will eventually lead to losses, then there might be cause for concern. When you can point to more than 4 players in a team not playing well, who usually play well, then that might speak more about the system than the players. Having said that, its really hard to diagnose what went wrong in this game.
We sucked. We won. Most teams that achieve anything will do do both at once at least a few times in a season.
Emblematic of the the kind of game that still resulted in 3 points for us was our GK saving a goal with his testicles.
“Most teams that achieve anything will do do both at once at least a few times in a season.”
This is an interesting idea. I went and looked at City’s record last year and they had zero Premier League matches where the opposition had higher xG than them. They had roughly four matches where they either had equal xG or they had low output on their end and they lost just one of those: Crystal Palace.
During Liverpool’s title winning season, they had 9 matches where the opponent had higher xG than them: they won 7, lost 2.
I’m sorry to have to say this. But I can sense that this is the beginning of Arsenal entering a blip in form.
I see us losing to both PSV and Southampton now. We’re just going to have to endure this, together.
We’ll probably only fully recover when we beat a big team. I’m thinking the Chelsea game.
I have seen this sort of thing so many times before.
I can see a blip, but not two losses. A draw on the horizon at PSV, OR, a shock loss to Soton. Probably not both!
It’s the three points and grinding out the win that’s important from me
We are showing some cracks and still managing to win. Win ugly but win nonetheless
There was so much chaos in this game and surrounding it that anything could have happened. So I’m definitely okay with the result
And here I go: I’m old enough to remember the physicality of Leeds in years past, and I’ll take a win away at Leeds any day
The fans and stadiums at Elland Road and Old Trafford can fuck right off
Title runs will always include some bit of luck, especially when you aren’t exactly at the $$€€¥¥ level of the like of Man City.
Arsenal were lucky today, but even to be lucky you have to be in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.
I’d say this is what a winning mentality looks like – winning games you shouldn’t have won.
These kind of ugly wins are what champions grind out.
We should/could have won at Old Trafford but didn’t – if the Øde play to Martinelli isn’t pulled back by VAR – who knows what would have been the complexion of the game. These things balance out over the course of the season.
While I’d stick to me pre-season expectation of third or bust, i cannot agree with this pragmatic but pessimistic retrospective of the Leeds game.
I am happy having by heart broken by a mid-season or end-season collapse but not with refusing to show belief in the Arsenal for a change.
“I’d say this is what a winning mentality looks like – winning games you shouldn’t have won.
These kind of ugly wins are what champions grind out.”
We’d like to think that, but it is not quite so.
offensively,I would agree that saka and odegaard leapt on a gift and made leeds pay, very much a sign of champions.
But the amount of chances and space that leeds got was too much to give for a “champions” team.
Gabriel shouldn’t be making that mistake of (very slightly) kicking out, got lucky VAR rescued him. and has made an avoidable mistake in almost every game recently that has not been highlighted because the team is winning. If I was arteta, I would be very concerned.
Xhaka, with his all his experience and seniority, should have been stabilising the defence and midfield in the last half hour. Plays into his skill set as well, as he wouldn’t have to make too many runs or recorvery runs, since most of the play was in arsenal half.
all of which is to simply say that the kind of “ugly wins are what champions grind out.” look a lot different than this match.
“I’d say this is what a winning mentality looks like – winning games you shouldn’t have won.
These kind of ugly wins are what champions grind out.”
We’d like to think that, but it is not quite so.
offensively,I would agree that saka and odegaard leapt on a gift and made leeds pay, very much a sign of champions.
But the amount of chances and space that leeds got was too much to give for a “champions” team.
Gabriel shouldn’t be making that mistake of (very slightly) kicking out, got lucky VAR rescued him. and has made an avoidable mistake in almost every game recently that has not been highlighted because the team is winning. If I was arteta, I would be very concerned.
Xhaka, with his all his experience and seniority, should have been stabilising the defence and midfield in the last half hour. Plays into his skill set as well, as he wouldn’t have to make too many runs or recorvery runs, since most of the play was in arsenal half.
all of which is to simply say that the kind of “ugly wins are what champions grind out.” look a lot different than this match.