Mikel Arteta admits Premier League leaders Arsenal struggled to cope initially with Leeds United’s speed, aggression and counter-attacking quality during Saturday’s eventual 4-1 win at the Emirates Stadium.
It is about that time in the season when that old cliché re-enters the footballing lexicon. You know the one.
And considering the manner in which Arsenal bounced back from a slow start at home to relegation threatened Leeds – an eventual 4-1 scoreline making a mockery of just how difficult the assignment proved to be – the phrase ‘Hallmark of Champions’ certainly felt appropriate.
Arsenal, by Arteta’s own admission, struggled early on. Leeds’ aggression and intensity knocked the Gunners out of their stride, Aaron Ramsdale making a couple of key saves before Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring from the penalty spot against the run of play.
Arsenal beat Leeds United 4-1
“Well, a few things that we had to improve. The way they set up, they were really man marking our attacking midfielders,” Arteta tells Football London.
Javi Gracia, a versatile and astute tactician, utilised right-back Rasmus Kristensen in a flexible midfield role, the Dane giving Leeds more muscle and pace in the absence of the injured Tyler Adams.
“They were playing a back six, they were playing four really quick players,” Arteta adds. “They caught us on transition. We started to lose the ball in areas that you can’t do against teams that want to defend like that.
“We improved that a lot, we explored other spaces. And we started to change the positions of a few players, were more fluent. Then we went attacking in the box with more numbers and good positions and we looked a threat.”
Former Leeds loanee Ben White knocked the stuffing out of a brave Leeds performance moments into the second half before Jesus doubled his tally following yet another Leandro Trossard assist. Kristensen’s deflected effort, meanwhile, was rendered a consolation by Granit Xhaka’s seventh of the campaign at the other end.
As responses go, this was just about the perfect one following Manchester City’s statement win over Liverpool earlier in the day.
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