Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk says Arsenal’s second goal, just before half-time, was the crunch point in Saturday’s 5-0 defeat.
The visitors were second best for the entirety of the game, albeit initially held out for 35 minutes before Jurrien Timber headed home while wedged in between Struijk and Joe Rodon.
Bukayo Saka’s strike in added time at the end of the first half provided a crucial blow, with the third goal from Viktor Gyokeres a few minutes after the break killing the contest. The fourth and fifth goals - a six-yard box scramble and a penalty - showed United’s naivety and lack of confidence as the title challengers showed little mercy.
“Over the last few years we’ve seen where they have finished in the season, so they are a really good team,” Struijk told club media of Arsenal.
“I feel like we were good and solid until around minute 35 when we conceded at the set-piece. You look at the record they have set-pieces and they’re a pretty good team.
“We were just a bit unfortunate to go in at half-time having conceded for two-nil. I just feel that changed the momentum going in.
"It was never going to be easy coming here, I feel like they’re a title competing team, so it was always going to be tough. We can’t dwell on it too much because we’ve got a quick turnaround.”
Daniel Farke iterated the same mantra, underlining that it was not a “season-defining result”. However, he was annoyed with some of the goals.
“A bit annoying how we conceded because two goals out of out of set pieces,” he said. “We are disappointed today, but we won't over analyse this game too much.
"Yes, there were one or two things that we could have done better. No doubt about this. Otherwise we wouldn't have conceded two times at a time to a set piece.”
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