My least favorite kind of day at work is the first day back after a particularly extended stretch out of office. You know, the painful return to reality after a vacation or long weekend. The Monday on steroids, as it were.
Even at the most typical of times, getting back into the swing of things after a normal two-day weekend might take a moment. At least, it does for me. Barring an emergency upon my return, my first hour at work on a Monday morning involves gulping down a strong latte and checking e-mails while I wake up.
But when you’ve been out and about for a week or two, hiking or skiing or exploring or driving or otherwise gallivanting freely, immediately mustering the energy needed to resume the old grind can be daunting. Even if your holiday has been one of relaxation, jet lag and an abrupt change of pace make for an inhibiting cocktail. If you’re willing to look me in the eye and tell me your first day back in the rat race after a vacation isn’t a sluggish one, I’d bet you’re lying more than Manchester City’s witnesses did to the independent commission overseeing their case.
It’s natural. We are creatures of habit. On some level, all of us enjoy a routine. And we need an adjustment period when that routine is disrupted.
I think you can say the same for Arsenal going into Saturday’s match against Leeds United. The Gunners’ routine had been heavily disrupted by a three-week international break, hopefully the last we’ll ever see. Many of the players were returning from extended duty with their national teams, venturing around the globe, to different continents and timezones — with some picking up injuries during that excursion — while others hadn’t played competitive football for the better part of a month. The team had only trained together twice in the buildup to the game according to Riccardo Calafiori. And they were playing in the earliest window possible.
Perhaps, like us fans, they too were burdened with the knowledge that the meaning of the Premier League as a competition had been distorted by their main title rivals.
So, after an energetic start, Arsenal faded. Their offensive play was lethargic in its intent and speed. The care they took on the ball was found wanting, with players getting their weight of pass wrong and making some bad decisions in possession. The general chemistry and coordination between some of the players was lacking as well, and that showed up in things such as pressing structure.
The thing is, this is the Premier League. Any team will capitalize if you aren’t at the races, and Leeds entered this match as one of the in-form sides in the English top flight. Daniel Farke’s men were undefeated ahead of their visit to the Emirates Stadium, and they had only conceded three goals in the league. The Gunners already had a fight on their hands.
So perhaps it was no surprise when Leeds capitalized on a moment of poor defending and James Justin, for the third time, fired home against Arsenal. In that moment, with the 3-0 loss at Brighton fresh in the mind, with the looming threat of a defiant City aided by a siege mentality and — at least coincidentally — the referees, going behind at home felt like a pivotal gut punch. We are only in October but already certain matches are presenting as must-win affairs.
Maybe in time we will look back on Saturday and feel it was a sliding doors moment. And if we do, we’ll do so fondly, because following Justin’s goal the Gunners woke up. Perhaps the hangover of three weeks away subsided. Perhaps they simply found the strength to push it to one side and do what needed to be done. In any event, they produced a champions’ performance to turn the tide and earn a 2-1 win.
And I do mean “earn”. Yes, there are things to work on. Yes, I still have concerns about Arsenal’s attack. But this is a time that spent most of last season winning by overcoming adversity, and they do not look to have lost that quality. At a time when City are positioning themselves to muddy the waters of the title race as much as possible, the Gunners are going to need to keep winning, even when they are not at their best. On a real post-holiday Monday of a Saturday, they did just that.
Ballers
Bruno Guimarães
It’s funny — I think a theme of this nascent season has been a difficulty ascertaining whether a match requires Guimarães or Myles Lewis-Skelly. At Brighton, the former started but the Seagulls’ highly aggressive and effective pressing almost certainly necessitated the latter’s elite ball-carrying ability. Against Leeds, Lewis-Skelly got the nod in midfield but as it turns out, the former Newcastle man was needed to add some juice to the side going forward.
We are only six games into the league season, but now Guimarães has come to Arsenal’s rescue twice. Just as he did at Sunderland, the Brazilian stepped onto the pitch as a substitute and slammed in a winning goal from outside the opponents’ penalty area. This time, Guimarães stepped onto a flick from Declan Rice before firing home in the 70th minute to make it 2-1 to his side before running off to celebrate with the home crowd.
Aside from that instrumental contribution, the summer signing also helped shore up Arsenal’s midfield in the closing stages of the game. He made a clearance and five ball recoveries. He also won three of four ground duels and two of three aerial duels. Guimarães possesses a warrior spirit, a winning mentality that refuses to be beaten and is desperate to win. You could see that mindset begin to spread through the team with him on the pitch. I don’t think this will be the last time he influences a game to this extent.
Declan Rice
The first hour of Rice’s performance wasn’t his best. The Englishman had been excused from international duty and thus remained at Arsenal during the break to tend to injury. And he looked like it. Rice didn’t play with his usual sharpness and made some mistakes he normally wouldn’t, just as losing the ball near his own penalty area.
But the thing about Arsenal’s record signing is that, more than almost any other player, he goes from strength to strength over the course of a match. He played the entirety of the match and grew into it the further the game progressed. As a result, his last 30 minutes were tremendous. Rice dragged Arsenal up the pitch with bursts forward on the ball, cleaned up in the middle of the park, and produced some critical clearances. And of course, he assisted Guimarães’ winner (the second time he has done so).
The midfield stalwart finished with the joint-most defensive contributions in the match and the most touches of the ball of any player. He completed 88% of his passes, played 17 line-breaking passes (funny, I thought he couldn’t do that), won six of eight ground duels, won three of five aerial duels, and overall was Arsenal’s most dominant player at the climax of the match. He also came close to assisting a third goal for the Gunners, bringing down a back post cross wonderfully before squaring it. Martin Ødegaard made contact in front of an open net but somehow managed not to tuck it away.
[X avatar for @Squawka
Squawka@SquawkaDeclan Rice's game by numbers vs. Leeds: 87 touches (most) 63/71 successful passes 17 line-breaking passes 10 passes into final third 9 duels won 4 touches in opp. box 4 clearances 3x possessions won 2/2 successful take-ons 2 tackles 1 chance created 1 interception 1 assist 💪 1:35 PM · Oct 10, 2026 · 52.8K Views21 Replies · 395 Reposts · 2.87K Likes](https://x.com/Squawka/status/2108914267764248995?s=20)
In any event, Rice certainly looked like himself when Arsenal needed him most. Hopefully he can be spared minutes against Lille before another battle at Nottingham Forest next weekend.
Mikel Arteta
I’ve always said that a great manager makes the most of their resources. On Saturday, Arteta did just that in a difficult situation. Down 1-0 at home, needing a result in order to put pressure on City, the gaffer did something that he hasn’t always been good at, particularly before last season: he prepared multiple decisive substitutions without waiting too long to do so.
Arsenal did notch an equalizer while Guimarães, Jurriën Timber, and Viktor Gyökeres waited on the sidelines to enter the match, but ultimately the changes were the right move. Guimarães’ passing breathed life into the Gunners’ attack, Timber added some defensive solidity on the right side, and Gyökeres made for a more willing threat to Leeds’ back line on the day. Several minutes later, Gyökeres pulled his defender away to help open up a lane for Guimarães to fire in the winner. Those two and Timber contributed to help defend the lead for the remainder of the game.
One of the truly world class aspects of this team is its depth. On Arsenal’s bench in this match were Guimarães, Timber, Gyökeres, Piero Hincapié, Mikel Merino, Eberechi Eze, Martín Zubimendi, and Max Dowman. That’s with multiple players out of the squad due to injury. But it’s still on Arteta to take risks and be willing to completely change the team in order alter the dynamic of a match and earn a result. He did that to great effect, so credit where it is due.
Noni Madueke
Perhaps the biggest surprise in Saturday’s lineup was the inclusion of Madueke, not at right wing, but on the left flank. The Englishman, having not featured much to begin the season, didn’t earn a call-up to the national team for the break and thus had been left to maintain sharpness at London Colney. Following the match, Arteta claimed that Madueke had been the best player in training leading up to the game. Presumably as a reward for that effort, he was given a shot at left wing following the multi-week injury for Christos Tzolis.
I think Madueke took his chance for the most part. He ended the game with the most chances created, the most touches in the opposition box, and the highest top speed in the match. For spells of the game, the former Chelsea man was the Gunners’ most threatening attacker. His speed in behind — something Arsenal have severely lacked this season — kept Leeds’ defense honest. And while he didn’t get past his man as often as I’d like, the danger was there. Additionally, Madueke completed more crosses in a Premier League match than anyone else has so far this season.
[X avatar for @Sofascore
Sofascore Football@Sofascore🧐 | New solution on the left? Only one player has recorded 5+ accurate crosses in a single Premier League match this season: • Noni Madueke v Leeds (10 Oct 2026) 🆕 Maybe the LW position isn't that much of a problem for Arsenal after all. 😅 1:27 PM · Oct 10, 2026 · 7.22K Views1 Reply · 8 Reposts · 83 Likes](https://x.com/Sofascore/status/2108912309964034064?s=20)
So I’m happy for him. I’m not sure if there is necessarily a superstar in there, but I believe he’s a talented, useful player who deserves a lot more respect than he gets from Arsenal fans. And the lack of usage, combined with links to other teams in recent weeks and an England snub despite five World Cup appearances this summer, probably didn’t make for the best start to Madueke’s 2026/27 season. It looks like he may have at least a temporary role until Tzolis returns. Of course, for this rising stock there is an equal and opposite falling stock…
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Fallers
Eberechi Eze
I’ve heard rumors that Eze picked up a knock on England duty. Perhaps that is why he remained an unused substitute for the entirety of the match. But it simply is not a good look for the player who has looked to be the only other option at left wing to stay on the bench for 90 minutes while the team’s backup right winger takes the job.
I’m not someone who tries to derive meaning from a player’s body language unless it’s blatantly obvious. So I’m not going to sit here and say that Eze is lazy or doesn’t care — I think both of those assumptions are offensively wide of the mark. I do still think he has a role to play this season. But I am worried. This is someone who is supposed to be a major attacking player for Arsenal, but has now apparently slipped down the pecking order behind a winger signed from Club Brugge and Saka’s understudy. He needs to start making an impact if he is to reemerge as a prominent force in this team.
Bukayo Saka
I want to start by saying that this is in no way me going back on anything I said in my recent piece on Saka. I still think he’s been pretty good to start the season, I still like that he’s getting into great shooting positions, and I still am not worried about him moving forward. But yes, I didn’t love his performance on Saturday.
My main qualm is that he just didn’t look very sharp. Which makes sense; he played 244 minutes for England over the break after featuring heavily for Arsenal before that. But he struggled to get past his man on occasion, and I really want to see him start tucking away the chances he gets more consistently.
Against Leeds, he was presented with two pretty solid opportunities and squandered both of them. In particular, I’m a bit annoyed that he fired his attempt in added time directly at James Trafford when he was in on goal. Fortunately, it was the last kick of the game. But still — Saka is supposed to be Arsenal’s main goal threat this season. He needs to kick things up a notch.
Arsenal Twitter
I did not panic when Leeds went ahead. I was annoyed, I felt the odds of a win dip in my head, but I concertedly avoided going ballistic. Because I trust this team. I know what they’re capable of in difficult moments, and I feel that I owe them a bit of patience to rectify situations like the one Justin’s goal put them in.
A lot of people in my orbit online seem to have dispensed with that trust. As soon as the Gunners went a goal down, the same narratives reared their ugly heads. Arsenal had the worst summer window of all time this past offseason (even though a star forward who wanted to join didn’t exist and there may or may not have been a financial compliance factor involved in the decision to sell Gabriel Martinelli). Saka, Ødegaard, and Kai Havertz aren’t good enough. Arteta hates Eze and Gyökeres. City are going to win the league.
I even saw someone say this Arsenal team “didn’t have any fight about them” which, frankly, is a little laughable considering what we’ve witnessed from them over the last year and change.
In the end, the English champions adjusted and won the match. People deleted tweets and surely felt foolish. And I know I’m speaking of a virtual hellscape that rewards reactionary and outrageous behavior, I know I’m talking about what has essentially become a receptacle for the first drafts of the entire world’s thoughts. But I just wish Arsenal fans would demonstrate a little more composure. I wish that next time things don’t go swimmingly from the jump, we supporters show the discipline to reserve judgment and just see how things play out.
I know, it’ll never happen.
In any event, thank you to the crowd at the Emirates. You all were great.
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