3 things we learned from Leeds United’s defeat at Arsenal.
Leeds United’s return to Premier League action at defending champions Arsenal ultimately presented a first league defeat of the season - but not without plenty of positive takeaways for Daniel Farke’s Whites.
Here are three things we learned from the 2-1 defeat at The Emirates to Mikel Arteta’s side.
More weight to finishing position suggestion
Saturday’s fixture at the Emirates was still only the sixth game of the new season and that’s clearly too small a sample from which to draw big conclusions as to where Leeds could and should finish. But the Premier League table taken since last November is clearly a more accurate long term guide and it’s a table in which Leeds sit sixth in with 45 points from 31 games played, even after Saturday’s defeat at the Emirates. Arsenal were hardly coming into the game in terrific form following the 3-0 defeat at Brighton before the international break but the Gunners are the champions of England for a reason and their team and bench made for eye-watering reading, glittered with stars. This was unquestionably United’s biggest test yet but there’s no doubt that Leeds should have got something from the game - a draw at least - and really they might well have won it had they taken their chances and gone 2-0 up. The classy Mikel Arteta again sung United’s praises both before and after Saturday’s match, ultimately because he knows this Leeds team are now a very good side. Quite what they are capable of is hard to say and staying up still remains the first objective for a team in their second season back in the Premier League. But the stats from the last 31 games tell you that Leeds are the sixth best team in the division over that timeframe and on both that basis and Saturday’s display, a top half finish minimum really ought to be within their compass. Europe might be pushing it and a lot will depend on injuries and in any case that might be a step too far too soon but it’s not saying anything silly to say that Leeds ought to be at least in the conversation, as the tables both short term and more importantly long term prove. Man United are next for Leeds but it’s a game in which it’s not hard to fancy the Whites backed by home advantage at Elland Road.
Gabi Gudmundsson is clearly one of the team’s best players
Another week, another Leeds player performance to rave about but not Tarik Muharemovic this week for once, just a few days after Farke serving a reminder that the summer signing had still only played five Premier League games and still had lots to work on. Saturday’s assignment against the Gunners presented Muharemovic with his toughest test yet and all things considered he stood up to it pretty well. But it was the bloke to the left of him who impressed the most, left back Gabi Gudmundsson producing undoubtedly one of his best displays in a Leeds shirt yet and there have been a fair few of them. The Swede performed very well at both ends of the pitch, helping to keep Bukayo Saka very quiet down that side of the pitch and causing all sorts of problems when he came forward. As such, it was no surprise when he supplied a delicious cross for James Justin to fire Leeds ahead with a brilliant finish. Things then got a bit harder for Gudmundsson and his defensive team mates as Arsenal pushed for a way back into the game but the Gunners still didn’t have that much joy that down that side of the pitch and Saka’s day was summed up when he fired wide from a one-on-one in second half stoppage time. On the other side of the pitch to Gudmundsson, Justin also had an impressive game and is probably the other obvious man of the match contender although Ao Tanaka was also very good in midfield and Dominic Calvert-Lewin excellent in leading the line. But Gudmundsson was the one who really caught the eye and unlike Muharemovic he now has 36 Premier League appearances to his name. It’s always hard to pick out a best player from this Leeds current Leeds squad but amid the huge Muharemovic fanfare, this was another reminder that Gudmundsson is up with there with the best of them.
James Trafford won’t save everything
United’s new record signing and new no 1 James Trafford is another to have quickly earned race reviews since joining the club, deservedly so. It then followed that the new Leeds keeper deservedly got two Nations League games for England in the international break. There is no doubt that the keeper will provide a calming presence for United’s defenders knowing that he is there behind them and his ‘aura’ has already been picked up on several times. But it’s fair to say that Saturday’s clash at the Emirates was Trafford’s most challenging afternoon yet and he was unable to keep out Riccardo Calafiori’s equaliser which sort of bounced into the ground and over him, the goal a massive momentum shifter inside the stadium and putting the Gunners on course for all three points. It wasn’t really a goalkeeper error as such, more a shot that on another day he might have saved which is pretty much how Farke put it at his post-match presser. It must also be said that Trafford then survived a real scare towards the end of the game when losing the ball after rushing out of his box in an attempt to clear, Arsenal thankfully unable to capitalise although at 2-1 up by that point the damage had already been done. At the end of the day, Leeds have signed an outstanding young keeper in Trafford who is clearly going to be England’s long term new no 1 although Jordan Pickford will still take some shifting for some time yet. At club level there will be lots of times when Trafford bails Leeds out of trouble but also times when he is unable to pull off world class saves and Saturday proved that one goal at the other end won’t always be enough to take something from the game, especially against teams of Arsenal’s calibre. We’ll never know what might have happened had the Whites gone 2-0 up.