Daniel Farke felt his Leeds United side was unlucky not to bring anything back from their trip to the Emirates Stadium after matching or bettering Premier League champions Arsenal for much of the return to action contest.
The Whites were definitely the better team in the opening half, forcing home keeper David Raya into three fine saves, and on another day would have been well in front before they finally deservedly took the lead through James Justin 10 minutes after the break.
Arsenal showed why they are the reigning champions, however, as they found a way to win 2-1 thanks to a red hot 10 minute spell midway through the second period when they scored both their goals.
"It's a bit difficult to describe the emotions,” said manager Farke. "First of all, congratulations to Arsenal, it's down to the mentality that Mikel has created here that even on a tough
James Justin fired Leeds United ahead at Arsenal.placeholder image
James Justin fired Leeds United ahead at Arsenal.
“My emotions are a mix. Of course I am heartbroken and gutted for my players because they deserve to travel back with points and after such a really good away performance to travel back without any points, it's tough and for that, of course I'm disappointed, especially for them.
"But on the other hand I am very proud of what was a top away performance.”
Farke continued: “I think the first half was only on a really good level. We didn't allow any chances, it was more or less the other way round.
"We looked more dangerous and I told them at half time, listen, if we keep going and have a bit more clarity and belief in our offensive actions then we will win this game and this is also how we started the second half.
Daniel Farke was frustrated at being booked at Arsenal.placeholder image
Daniel Farke was frustrated at being booked at Arsenal.
"I think we fully deserved to go into the lead and also went for it, we wanted the second goal anyhow.
"But it's Arsenal, it's one of the best teams in Europe, if not the best, it's definitely the most consistent team in Europe over the last years and this means they are automatically one of the best teams in the world and even out of very, very little, they were able to find the equaliser
“Out of very little they were able to equalise and of course, if you have 70 minutes as a reigning champion, a tough day at home, then you are all of a sudden back in the game then of course there's momentum.
"They use this momentum then with another well taken goal, a quality player to come in with a really good finish to go in the lead.
"We tried everything to find another answer in the final stages to equalise in the game, it was not to be so for that congratulations to Arsenal.
"Of course we are a bit heartbroken and disappointed, but once the dust has settled we also have to say we'll take many, many positives."
Farke was left frustrated by the performance of referee Paul Tierney and his inconsistent decisions on fouls and bookings, picking up a yellow card himself.
He explained: “There were three fouls on Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the first half in good situations for counter-attacks. I was going to the fourth official, ‘Listen, are we thinking about a yellow card?’
“Perhaps because it was a tactical foul, he said, ‘yeah, we're thinking about it, but Daniel, it's 20/30 yards in your half. It's not so dangerous.
“What happens? Ao Tanaka, 30 yards in their half foul – yellow card because whole stadium is on it. Ethan Ampadu 30 yards in their half – yellow card because
the whole stadium is on it.
“When I was asking the fourth official, ‘Come on, Oliver (Langford). We have spoken before about it. Why are you doing this?’
“He didn't want to explain and didn't want to come to me. So I'm always more or less in Mikel’s technical area, and in my technical area, he didn't want to show up. So I had to go over, and then I saw a yellow card because I went out of my technical area.
”All three yellow cards were not deserved or not with consistency. But it's also like with Ao Tanaka, I have to take him off in the second half because he was there with another foul. We had to be careful.
“Ethan Ampadu has to be careful in each duel and these little details are also sometimes decisive. I think there was no consistency in these decisions, and yeah, when you tell them this or ask them for explanations, and they don't have an explanation.”
It did feel like Leeds were up against more than just 11 opposition players at times on a ground where they have never won, but after making a solid start in which they initially went for containment they gradually took charge of the match.
Arsenal's bright start fizzled out and they only created two half chances in the whole of the first half with Kai Havertz having one header easily saved and sending another well over.
United's belief grew as they began to play in their opponents' half, often winning the ball high up the pitch and gradually beginning to create chances.
The first came when Gabriel Gudmundsson's cross was met at the far post by Anton Stach, but his goalbound volley was blocked by teammate Jayden Bogle.
Ao Tanaka's clever cross then created another opportunity as it bounced awkwardly for home defenders. The alert Bogle nipped in only to see his effort saved at close range by Raya.
Skipper Ethan Ampadu almost scored a rare goal after Raya's punch out fell to him on the edge of the box. His instant lobbed header had the home keeper back pedalling and nearly taking the ball over his own line as he got back to catch.
Bogle's cross was next to cause danger for the visitors with Gudmundsson getting on the end of it only to see his well struck angled shot again well saved by Raya.
The second half started with the Gunners showing more intent and Leeds keeper James Trafford had to get down well to save Martin Odegaard's low shot.
But the Whites were soon back on the attack again as Tanaka's well struck shot from the edge of the box was tipped over by Raya.
And they went ahead when Gudmundsson was put away by Noah Okafor and his low cross was met by Justin, who had come up from the back to provide a fine finish.
Leeds looked for a second and were unlucky when Calvert-Lewin could not quite get on the end of another cross from Bogle.
But Arsenal snatched an equaliser that was unjust at the time as Gudmundsson switched off for a second at the far post, allowing Ben White to head a Noni Madueke cross down for Riccardo Calafiori to score. Trafford got hands to the ball but could not keep it out.
Suddenly the champions had woken up and they were boosted by 150 million pound's worth of talent off the bench.
One of the substitutes sent on had an almost immediate impact as Bruno Guimaraes finished superbly after a clever lay-off by Declan Rice to make it 2-1.
They had been helped by a free-kick that was controversially awarded by Tierney and taken quickly.
Guimaraes also somehow avoided a yellow card despite jumping into the crowd to celebrate.
But it had been a goal of high class fit to win any game and it was now hard work for Leeds, whose own substitutes failed to make any impact.
Although they huffed and puffed they never really looked like equalising and it was the home team who could have scored two more in the closing stages. Odegaard somehow failed to score from close range after good work by Rice in the box and with the last action of the game Bukaya Saka raced clean through only to be denied by his England teammate Trafford.
Arsenal 2
(Calafiori 62, Guimaraes 70)
Leeds United 1
(Justin 55)
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Premier League
Attendance: 60,315
Arsenal: Raya 8; White 6 (Kimber 63), Konsa 7, Gabriel 7, Calafiori 7 (Hincapie 82, 6); Rice 7, Lewis-Skelly 5 (Guimaraes 63, 7); Saka 6, Odegaard 6 (Merino 90), Madueke 6; Havertz 6 (Gyokeres 63, 6).
Leeds: Trafford 7; Justin 8 (Nmecha 79, 6), Elvedi 7 (Bijol 86), Muharemovic 7; Bogle 7 (Bahoya 86), Ampadu 7, Tanaka 7 (Wilson 71, 5), Stach 7, Gudmundsson 7; Okafor 6 (Aaronson 71, 5), Calvert-Lewin 7.
Referee: Paul Tierney 4