Arsenal secure the points against 10 man Leeds… with a slight wobble

Arsenal 2 Leeds 1 
Premier League 
Sunday 8th May 2022  2pm   

Rather like the weekend before, a win’s a win, but in a strange kind of way, the one Arsenal enjoyed at home to a ten man Leeds team was less satisfying than the one away to West Ham. The team did very well to go two up early on, but after that, with Leeds having ten men for more than an hour, things went a little strange.

Arsenal dominated – as you’d expect, and you sensed this was perhaps an opportunity to work on the goal difference – which currently favours the noisy neighbours at the other end of the Seven Sisters Road. However, in spite of chances being created, Mikel Arteta’s team failed to increase their lead. In fairness, Leeds’ tactics a man down seemed to focus on not being beaten out of sight, so in one respect, played as if it were 0-0 and they were hanging on for a point. 

Eddie Nketiah scored both goals, and Leeds’ keeper Meslier will have sleepless nights at how he was caught in possession on his own goal line for the first, as Eddie pounced before he could release a pass and put the ball into the net. Four minutes gone and on a sunny London afternoon, everything suddenly felt very relaxed.

Five minutes later, Martinelli did well out wide to create Eddie’s second, as he took a sweet low shot after receiving the ball in space with the freedom of the penalty area to work in. It got even better – or so you’d have thought - with a red card after a VAR review for an assault on Martinelli by former Arsenal youth Luke Ayling. 

There’s not much else to say about the game itself above and beyond the reality that Arsenal’s dominance lead to chances but not goals – and with a hat-trick there for the taking, Nketiah largely disappeared. Still, he’d done his work. Ultimately it felt like a lack of killer instinct generally though.

Things could have got very freakish after Leeds pulled one back from their first corner in the game halfway through the second half, but Arsenal woke up enough to control the bulk of the remaining minutes, even if there were a few minor scares, not least a free header in injury time that fortunately went straight into Ramsdale’s arms. It would have been a travesty had the home side not won the game given their dominance and numerical advantage, but there was certainly anxiety amongst the home crowd.

The team selection was eyebrow raising… at least once it lined up on the field. With Tomiyasu and Cedric being selected, most would have envisaged Cedric being switched to the left to replace Tavares. Yet, it was Tomiyasu that played at left back and did a fairly competent job, although he was found a little wanting for the opposition goal. Smith Rowe remained on the bench as Martinelli and Saka flanked Nketiah. Ben White looks unlikely to play again this season, with a hamstring problem. Gabriel and Holding were not seriously tested for the most part. With Everton winning at Leicester, it is starting to look like the final relegation spot will be between Leeds and Burnley. 

For Arsenal, regardless of the lapse that gave Leeds some faint hope, it was a case of job done, and if you are going to learn a lesson – better in a game that it doesn’t cost you. I was told it was the first time the team had conceded from a corner this season, which is a credit to the defensive improvement that we have seen over the course of the season. Nevertheless, the team will need to be more switched on when they visit Tottenham on Thursday evening. Of course a win will make the remaining two matches against Newcastle and Everton academic, unless Arteta has aspirations to finish third. A draw would leave wiggle room, as it would mean Arsenal only need one win from their remaining two matches.

The pressure though will be more on Spurs. They have to go for the win, and if Arteta’s team can defend solidly, will need to take chances as the game wears on. Eddie Nketiah will have to plough a lone furrow much of the time, as his colleagues will surely play deep and soak up the pressure, hoping sheer weight of numbers can deny any goals in what is sure to be a hothouse atmosphere. Certainly there is a decision to be made about who plays where at full back, with Cedric a weak link and Tavares too risky to start a game of this nature. It’s a match crying out for Kieran Tierney, but that isn’t going to happen. White’s continued absence negates the option of playing three at the back. 

All the same, Arsenal are in the box seat, their fate in their own hands even if they lose the derby. Newcastle’s heavy defeat to Manchester City gives a little hope that maybe they are not as impressive as their run of results has suggested, although they will have had a good rest before the Gunners’ visit. Everton might be safe by the final day, in which case it will be a case of Arsenal not beating themselves out of some kind of anxiety about the result leading to loss of focus and a below par display.

A word on Arteta’s contract renewal. Why now? What’s wrong with June? What is likely to change exactly? I don’t see him being headhunted by a bigger club. It just feels a bit like Solksjaer at Manchester United. It feels to me like a possible case of act in haste, repent at leisure. They certainly aren’t so quick off the mark when it comes to player extensions. 

Given the factors favouring Arteta, I would expect a top four finish. Progress itself is welcome, but next season is going to be tougher, and if the club do not return to the Champions League for the first time since 2016-17, after a five year absence, I really don’t see why they can do it next season, with the added Europa League matches in the schedule and the reality that they surely can’t splash as much cash as last summer. The first sign that the club can start to consider competing seriously again is very much up for grabs now. Please do not blow it.

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