James Justin scored his second goal of the season vs Arsenal
James Justin scored his second goal of the season vs Arsenal(Image: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
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James Justin has underscored that the disappointment Leeds United feel following their 2-1 defeat to Arsenal counts as a positive.
Leeds more than matched the champions on their own patch for an hour, Justin hammering home on 55 minutes to give the Whites a deserved lead. After a plethora of first-half chances, Leeds had seen Ao Tanaka force David Raya to tip over and Justin curl inches wide just before the opener.
And almost immediately after, Noah Okafor was inches away from a Jayden Bogle cross, with any contact surely leading to a 2-0 lead. But Arsenal looked to their bench and once the equaliser was found through Riccardo Calafiori, a second looked inevitable.
Daniel Farke said he was “heartbroken” for his players after full-time, knowing how close they had ran the Gunners for an hour before succumbing to fresh legs in the final 30 minutes.
“Obviously we are disappointed which is, I would say in the grand scheme of things, a good thing,” Justin alluded, when speaking to TNT Sports afterwards.
“Because we came here last year and we were nowhere near the level and today we proved how far we have come from the start of last season. So, there are a lot of positives to take from the game but also things we can learn.
“And obviously, we are playing against one of the best sides in the world so they are going to have momentum and put us under pressure. We coped well through the majority of the game but, yeah, there is a reason why they are up there.
“Their mentality is unbelievable. What the coach has instilled in them since he has been at the club – he has been there so long now – everyone works. No matter what the score is, they are always fighting. That is what we are striving for.
“We have still got time to get there yet, as you can tell today but as I said, there are positives we can take out and we can hold our heads up high.”
Farke himself agreed that momentum can still be taken from the game, despite the result being a defeat and thus ending Leeds’ unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
He explained his team could take “confidence in the performance in our processes, [despite] many players were just back two days ago.
“We just had more or less one day on the training pitch to prepare to show such a level of performance against one of the best teams in the world, it gives lots of confidence - but we have to make sure we earn the right for further momentum in the next game [vs Manchester United]”.