Meanwhile, in Yorkshire, a game of football broke out
...AND RUTHLESS ARSENAL STROLLED TO VICTORY
IT was a day when the chaos wrought by Covid-19 decimated English football, a day when clubs could not fulfil their fixtures because they did not have enough players to field a team.
Leeds were so depleted by injuries they put a 15-year-old on their bench, as Arsenal’s season continued to be redefined by Mikel Arteta’s decision to banish a highly-prized forward, who is fit, well, available and desperate to play, from his squad.
This comprehensive win over Marcelo Bielsa’s reeling team, the only Premier League match to survive the rampaging outbreak of Covid infections, was the third successive match Arsenal have won since Arteta disciplined Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and later stripped him of the club captaincy, after he returned late from a trip abroad.
If some thought the controversy would deepen Arsenal’s problems after an uneven start to the season, the opposite has been true.
The team has flourished in Aubameyang’s absence, surging into the top four and playing with confidence and verve. They were a class above Leeds but then the home team was forced to field what was a shadow team.
The victory cemented Arsenal’s place in the Champions League spots and moved them to within five points of stuttering third-placed Chelsea.
Both Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were outstanding in their first-half demolition of their opponents, which was garnished by two fine finishes from Gabriel Martinelli, the most obvious beneficiary of Aubameyang’s absence.
Fresh from their 7-0 hammering by Manchester City, it is hard not to have sympathy for Leeds, who are five points clear of the relegation zone. They were missing ten players through injury or suspension and the reality is that they were punished because they have one of the best coronavirus vaccination uptake records in the Premier League. Only one of their players is thought to be sick with Covid, so they had to play.
Other teams, who have a higher proportion of unvaccinated players and suffered more absences as a result, were allowed to postpone their fixtures. It is one of the reasons why there is a feeling of injustice and anarchy about the wave of postponements sweeping through English football.
There were times when it looked as if Leeds would be overrun in the first half in particular and it was to their credit they stemmed the bleeding after the break.
They were without Liam Cooper, Patrick Bamford, Rodrigo, Kalvin Phillips, Pascal Struijk, Jamie Shackleton, Diego Llorente, Daniel James, Charlie Cresswell due to injury and Junior Firpo through suspension.
Arsenal should have taken the lead in the third minute when Odegaard slipped a ball in to Alexandre Lacazette, whose shot was blocked by Illan Meslier.
Leeds held out until the 17th minute but when they gave away possession in their own half for the umpteenth time, Arsenal punished them, working the ball from right to left across the face of the Leeds box. When Kieran Tierney burst on to a pass, he fell under a challenge from Mateusz Klich. Arsenal began to appeal for a penalty but when Adam Forshaw collected the loose ball and tried to bring it out of the box, he was dispossessed by Lacazette. The ball broke to Martinelli, who curled it into the roof of the net.
The visitors went 2-0 up just inside half an hour when Stuart Dallas gave the ball away and, after being fed by Granit Xhaka, Martinelli lifted the ball beautifully over Meslier.
Two minutes before half-time, Saka danced across the Leeds box, dodging challenges as he went before making space for a shot. His effort took a deflection which wrong-footed Meslier and took the ball beyond his reach.
Leeds gained a small measure of consolation 15 minutes from time when Joel Gelhardt burst into the box and was brought down by Ben White. Aaron Ramsdale congratulated White on the tackle but referee Andre Marriner was not fooled. He pointed to the spot and Raphinha lashed the penalty high into the roof of the net.
Leeds pressed for another goal and Crysencio Summerville should have done better when he volleyed high over the bar.
But only Newcastle have now conceded more goals than Leeds in the top flight this season and the home team’s rally was snuffed out six minutes from the end when substitute Emile Smith Rowe and he smashed his shot past Meslier.