Daniel Farke as Leeds United head to champions Arsenal.
Whites boss Daniel Farke has made a brave Leeds United call supported by many reasons as his side head to Arsenal with huge respect but also confidence in their own chance.
Fourteen months on from last August’s 5-0 defeat at the Emirates, Farke’s men are heading back to Arsenal for the first game after the extended international break in Saturday’s 12.30pm kick-off, ahead of which Leeds are still unbeaten and sat fifth in the Premier League table.
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Leeds, though, are now heading back to the Emirates with Mikel Arteta’s men now defending champions after last season’s brilliant title triumph which brought the Gunners their first Premier League tile since 2004.
Arteta’s side began the defence of their title with four straight wins before a surprising 3-0 defeat at Brighton in the last game before the international break which has left Leeds just three points behind the second-placed Gunners ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime showdown at the Emirates.
It all begs the question of what sort of approach Farke’s side will take and United’s head coach hopes his men can find the perfect mix of proving defensively solid but ultimately brave and bold in their bid to cause an upset.
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Asked by the YEP how difficult it was to weigh up the approach to taking on Arsenal in their own back yard, Farke reasoned: “It's always good to find a good mix because if you run very naive, more or less like just into counter attack after counter attack then for that they have too much too much quality.
"But it's definitely then never enough if you want to beat one of the top sides in world football just to park the bus and somehow hope to survive that they more less are there with wave after wave and you defend 47 crosses in your own box and that you have to head 127 balls away and you have to defend 20 of their corners.
"We have to make sure that we have many good pressing scenes but also that we keep the ball as good as possible and have lots of possession.
“We have also all reasons to be confident and brave”
"It's difficult against Arsenal. There's no doubt. But if there is wave after wave then even after coincidence sometimes to have a deflection where the ball goes in.
"We have to make sure also that we have our spells where we dominate the ball and keep the ball in possession far away from our goal and threaten their goal and give also our back row time to breathe and give opportunities to our offensive players.
"It's of course, tough, because everyone is aware of the strength of Arsenal, but if you want to be successful in such a game, you have to be brave, and if I'm honest, we have also all reasons to be confident and brave.
"There's nothing really to lose in this game, but we also have to make sure that we don't run naïve into counter attack after counter attack, that's also key."