A crazy work of Art for Gunners
SAKA SETTLES MADCAP CLASH AT ELLAND ROAD
MIKEL ARTETA’S jubilant reaction at the final whistle of this bonkers game said it all.
He punched the air and hugged his technical staff like they had just won the league.
But Arteta’s winning machine almost misfired, with Leeds meriting at least a point after dominating the second half and missing a penalty.
The Gunners held on thanks to Aaron Ramsdale’s heroics in goal, Gabriel’s resolute defending,VAR and luck.
They survived a scare in stoppage time when referee Chris Kavanagh sent off Gabriel and awarded Leeds a second spot-kick, only to overturn his decisions after viewing the pitchside monitor.
Arsenal were well below their fluent best, but they have won nine of their opening 10 league games for the first time since 1903-04 to consolidate their position at the top.
Leeds gifted the only goal at Elland Road before throwing everything at the visitors.
They will play worse than this and win and, although their wait for a first victory since August goes on, they can take several positives.
Play was suspended for almost 40 minutes early on after a power cut took out the communications between Kavanagh, the VAR and Hawkeye, setting the tone for a madcap afternoon. Leeds then showed plenty of intensity as Luis Sinisterra and Rodrigo threatened while Pascal Struijk had a closerange shot saved by Ramsdale.
Gabriel Jesus should have scored when Martin Odegaard played him through but he scooped his shot over.
Leeds undid all their hard work when Rodrigo played a kamikaze crossfield ball towards Struijk on 35 minutes and found Bukayo Saka instead. The England star played a one-two with Odegaard and fired his fifth goal of the season into the roof of the net from an angle.
Jesse Marsch brought Patrick Bamford on for Rodrigo at half-time and he had an effort disallowed for a foul within a minute. Arsenal were rocking and Leeds won a penalty after Kavanagh checked the pitchside monitor to see Jack Harrison’s cross come offWilliam Saliba’s arm.
Bamford fired the 64th-minute penalty wide and Marsch’s head dropped.
Ramsdale then blocked a Bamford shot before making an even better save to keep out Brenden Aaronson’s drive before Crysencio Summerville blazed over.
The final dramatic episode came in stoppage time when Bamford barged into Gabriel and the Arsenal defender kicked out at him.
Kavanagh waved a red card and awarded a penalty, only to do a U-turn and show Gabriel a yellow after the VAR urged him to review the incident – a crazy end to a crazy game.
LEEDS (4-2-3-1): Meslier 6; Kristensen 6, Koch 6, Cooper 7, Struijk 6; Adams 7, Roca 6 (Summerville 84, 6); Sinisterra 7 (Gelhardt 89), Aaronson 7, Harrison 6 (Klich 75, 6); Rodrigo 5 (Bamford 45, 6). ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale 7; White 6 (Tierney 76, 6), Saliba 5, Gabriel 7, Tomiyasu 6; Partey 6, Xhaka 6; Saka 7 (Holding 82, 6), Odegaard 7 (Vieira 72, 5), Martinelli 6; Jesus 6 (Nketiah 82, 5).
Goal: Saka 35.