18th December, 2021
Without their sacked captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal ran riot away at Leeds thrashing the hosts 4-1.
Gabriel Martinelli delivered the goods scoring twice in the 16th and 28th minute.
Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe gave the visitors maximum points, despite Raphinha pulling one back from the penalty spot in the second half.
The victory sent Arsenal into the top four, at least for Christmas.
Reactions after the match:
Mikel Arteta Arsenal coach:
“It was a really tough week but really positive with performances and results. We must be happy today.
“They had to play the most physical team in the league and they had to be ready. We had a nightmare to come to the hotel.
“They [the young players] are learning and they’re making a difference in the game. The senior players are playing a big role too.
“That’s what he [Gabriel Martinelli] can do. He’s getting a level of maturity. He’s so willing to learn. His passion in life is football. You can see that on the pitch.
“[Emile Smith Rowe has scored] seven in the league which is a remarkable figure. We wanted him to add it to his game.”
Was it important to win to increase the gap with nobody else playing: “Absolutely. It puts pressure on them. We were really lucky to play today with everything that’s happening. I told the players to enjoy the game and give everything because I don’t know how this will develop.”
Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa,
“There were two different halves. In the first half the difference [between the teams] could have been bigger. In the second half we should have scored more than one goal and prevented them from scoring more goals.
“The result is fair. Their performance was superior to ours, but there are things that we can value. The game is very simple to evaluate. We didn’t manage to provoke or generate a mistake from them in their own half. Our offensive game didn’t have the advantage of recovering the ball in the opponents’ half.
“Even if we pressed them better than we did against Manchester City, we didn’t manage to get them to make mistakes. They managed to provoke mistakes in our own half. That made it easier for them to attack.”
On Leeds’ injuries: “I can’t ignore that we were missing 10 players. There are things like the participation of Koch, who hasn’t played in four months – it wasn’t ideal that he played. On Thursday, a player fell on [Charlie] Cresswell’s shoulder. It caused an injury. He was supposed to play today.