Yesterday I think none of us were really that surprised with the type of game we got, as Leeds came to town with an identity, and that identity translated exactly onto the pitch as I talked about in [yesterday’s pre-match blog](https://www.suburbangooners.com/2026/10/10/leeds-at-home-big-bastards-set-pieces-and-a-point-to-prove/).
They are a strong team.
They are a physical team.
They press intensively.
They go long and direct where possible.
And that’s pretty much how the game played out yesterday. Leeds haven’t lost this season. They have one of the best points accumulation in 2026 going back to December last year. They changed their approach and style back in December and it has seen them look like a very capable Premier League outfit. This isn’t the same side we played and spanked at home towards the beginning of last season.
On that day, it was two goals in a five-goal hammering from Big Vik that had us wondering whether his goals might actually translate from Portugal to the Premier League. That has only really half happened, but I did expect to see him from the start yesterday, and I think a lot of Arsenal fans did too. So when the team news came out, there were plenty of raised eyebrows, not least because Kai was starting. We all thought he’d be out for a few weeks like Tzolis, but having him available is great news for Arteta and us too. Kai is by far the better footballer. But I do wonder whether or not it might still have been a day for the Swede. Just back from Sweden with a bunch of goals, up against a good Leeds side, but one in which there was space to run in behind, and we did try those balls in behind for him to chase a few times. Gyokeres’ game is a basic one, but it is one that suits the style of play that we saw yesterday. I wonder if he might have got more joy than Havertz in that first half, because whilst the German was busy enough, he wasn’t quite at his best I didn’t think. He never really got much change out of the back line in the first half, bar that one header that he nodded back pretty tamely to Trafford in the Leeds goal.
It was a pretty uneventful first half, if truth be told, and there were one or two wobbles from us defensively, but Leeds never really carved us open. I don’t know what happened to Big Gabi yesterday, but I thought he was poor, with some of his passing particularly noticeable for its inaccuracy.
To be fair he wasn’t the only one, because I saw a bit of that from MLS, from White, Calafiori wasn’t getting into the advance positions where we know he can do damage, plus we had Madueke on the left doing one good thing for every headless chicken thing he does. And the result was a halftime beer wondering if we were going to come out at Leeds quickly in the second half.
Only we didn’t. It was all a little too pedestrian at times, and as my mate Luke had remarked at halftime, if Odegaard isn’t dictating the play, if he’s having a game where he’s busy but doesn’t find the space to punch through those creative passes, then we look a little stodgy at times. And up until the Leeds goal, that is how the start of the second half played out. Leeds grew into confidence in the game, although they only created one shot that Raya tipped over from my recollection.
The numbers bear that out too; 2.33 xG for us against Leeds’ 0.62. Leeds may have had 11 shots (we had 13) and five on target, but they were long-range shots that, most of the time, you’d rather take your chances with than being cut open inside the six-yard box. But then they scored in the 55th minute, and the worry I had was that this was starting to feel like “one of those days” – you know what I mean, where things are just weird and off. The problem is, we had that in our last match, so when you go behind at home in the manner that we did yesterday, that is a big concern if the team doesn’t respond. Two defeats back-to-back can quickly turn a blip into a spiral. The team had to respond.
And I really thought they did, but it did take us about five minutes to get our heads right. Leeds had a bit of territory for five minutes after they scored, but just as Mikel was getting the subs to warm up, our response did kick in. On their goal, my initial thought was that Rice just didn’t track back, but to be fair, he got all over the pitch, so he can hardly be blamed too much for being half a yard behind the onrushing extra man Leeds had in that move. Justin’s finish was tidy too, although I feel like he scored a carbon copy of a goal like that for Leicester a couple of seasons back, so perhaps that was something that could have been anticipated.
Regardless of that, we were back level just six minutes later, and it was the move that sparked us into dominating the final third of the game. Madueke’s clipped ball to the back post was good, White’s header back was well timed, and unlike in the first half, Calafiori was in a dangerous spot to tap the ball in off Trafford. He’ll probably feel like he should have saved it, but sometimes these balls come at you so quick that you don’t have too much time to react when they are straight at the body. It went in, Calafiori wheeled away in celebration, and the firghtback was underway. From that moment onwards we dominated, and the subs that Arteta made had helped that. Bruno was getting on the ball and moving into more dangerous spaces than Myles had done, Viktor did pretty well in occupying his markers, whilst Jurrien looked decent and managed to get a solid 30+ minutes under his belt. The goal that was scored by Bruno, however, wowsers. It was lovely stuff from Odegaard in the build-up, Rice with the flick, then Bruno’s finish was sublime. The stats nerd in me says that with only a 10% likelihood of scoring, it was a tight one that decided the victory, but the football purist in me doesn’t car; winning games with screamers is the funnest way to win football matches. I’d take that all season long please.
And so we find ourselves today with another win, five out of six, in a good spot, knowing that we can watch the Liverpool v 114 FC/Asterisk FC/Cheaters FC game having done our job.
On to Lille on Tuesday night.
Catch you all tomorrow.