Valiant Leeds fall short at the Emirates as Arsenal subs turn the tide
Sunday, 11th Oct 2026 21:03 by Tim Whelan
For the first hour of the game it looked quite possible that Leeds would secure an unexpected victory at the Emirates. And although Arsenal’s strength in depth eventually told, we can be very satisfied with the performance.
Our form before the international break meant that Daniel Farke was content to name an unbeaten side, but we went into this game with a little bit of trepidation. Arsenal were the only team to really take us apart last season, and they did it twice.
But throughout the first half Arsenal’s forwards looked laboured as they struggled to break down our very disciplined defensive unit. They did have more of the possession during the opening 20 minutes, but seemed intent on getting caught offside at every opportunity.
And it was Leeds who created the first chance of the game, when a free kick was only partially cleared and came to Okafor on the edge of the area, with his shot being deflected just wide. And the only time Trafford was called into action before the break was when Havertz had to lean back to reach a cross, and could only send header straight at our keeper.
And in the latter part of the first half Leeds began to take charge, starting with a moment when we denied ourselves the opportunity to take the lead in quite bizarre fashion. Stach connected with a deep cross from Gudmundsson, but only to find Bogle in such an advanced position that he got in the way of the goal-bound shot.
Or “defending at the wrong end of the pitch” as one wag put it on social media. Then Calvert-Lewin sent a header straight at Raya, but the Arsenal keeper almost got himself in a muddle as he dealt with our next opportunity.
Raya came well off his line to dela with a Stach free kick and didn’t get a great deal of distance on his punch. Ampadu took the opportunity to send a looping header over the keeper, and although Raya got back to catch it his momentum very nearly carried the ball over his own goal line.
And just before the break a cross from Bogle just evaded Calvert-Lewin but came through to Gudmundsson beyond the far post. The Swede smashed a shot from a difficult angle, but Raya was able to keep it out. After such a dominant spell from Leeds we could expect the champions to get a rocket from Arteta at the break, and they did come out looking a bit more determined after the restart.
In the first few minutes of the second period Madueke cut inside from the left and found Ødegaard, but the Norwegian slightly scuffed his shot and Trafford was able to get down and deal with it. But it wasn’t long before Leeds were back on the front foot, and deservedly took the lead on 55 minutes.
Okafor and Gudmundsson played a one-two on the left flank, and with the defence plus Raya drawn towards the Swede, Justin was left unchallenged as the ball ran through to him. Our man made no mistake in sending a powerful shot into the roof of the net, via the top of Gabriel’s head. But sadly, it was only seven minutes before Arsenal were back on level terms.
A deep cross from Madueke was headed back across the face of goal, where it came through to Calafiori at an awkward height. But the Arsenal defender managed to bundle the ball home, with many Leeds fans thinking Trafford should have been able to keep the ball out. His attempt at a save certainly looks awful when you watch it back in slow motion.
Even before that goal Arteta was getting ready to make a triple substitution, and such is the quality of their squad that all three of the incoming players had represented their countries at this summer’s world cup. And the quality of the replacements certainly told as the suitably refreshed Gunners went on to dominate the rest of the game, with one of the substitutes scoring on 70 minutes.
After a fine move the ball was backheeled to find Guimarães racing through outside the area, and the Brazilian drilled a fierce right foot shot into the corner of the net, to give Trafford no chance. That prompted Farke to finally make some changes of his own as he switched to a back four to get an extra attacker onto the field in search of an equaliser, but sadly this proved that we couldn’t match the hosts with the quality of our bench.
Aaronson’s ineffectiveness gave his online critics a bit more fuel, and Wilson’s Leeds career is yet to take off. We also struggled after Farke felt he had to take the precaution of removing Tanaka, as the lively AO was one more careless challenge away from a second yellow card. Farke had been booked himself earlier in the game for complaining about the referee’s inconsistency after a number of challenges on Calvert-Lewin had gone unpunished.
His later substitutions also failed to change the course of the game, with Nmecha frequently losing possession and Bahoya not getting enough time to make an impact. And it was Arsenal who created two very good chances late in the game, though the scoreline would have been very flattering if they had taken either of them.
Some neat close control by Rice took him past Bogle on the touchline, but as his cross went along the face of the goal, Ødegaard somehow failed to bundle the ball in from a couple of yards out, as it bounced off him into the grateful arms of Trafford. Then with Leeds throwing everyone bar Trafford forward deep into injury time, Saka broke away, but could only send his shot wide.
And that was that. And as Daniel Farke said afterwards “We came very close today to winning a difficult away game against one of the best sides in the world, were competitive in this game and have played exactly on their level, more or less”. There’s not much to add to that, and we might have come back from north London with the dreaded nul points, but we can take enormous pride from this performance.
We’ve now got one of the most difficult games of the season out of the way, and if we can keep playing at this level we could well be in contention for Europe, especially if a Man City points deduction pushes us one place further up the table.
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