Arsenal look increasingly like champions with hugely impressive win at Elland Road

Leeds United (0) 0 v Arsenal (2) 4

Premier League

Matchweek 24

Talking Points

By Kaz Mochlinski at Elland Road

Could an apparently innocuous hip injury have changed Arsenal from contenders into champions-elect? A very late replacement turned out to be crucial in the Gunners’ best away result of the season as they won 0-4 against Leeds United at Elland Road.

There were considerable concerns when Bukayo Saka could not complete the pre-match warm-up and with negligible notice Noni Madueke was required to take his place. Yet it was the stand-in who set up the vital victory.

On another potentially pivotal weekend in the Premier League title race, at the end of a massive month during which Arsenal had to play nine games in four different competitions, including five in the league, they enhanced their position at the top.

Indeed, it may have been the 90 minutes when the Gunners looked more like champions than at any other stage of the season so far. The display was a blueprint in how a title-winning team needs to negotiate a major challenge on the way to its target.

There have already been several superb Arsenal performances since the start of the campaign. Ending Aston Villa’s club record run of 11 consecutive wins with a 4-1 success at the conclusion of the last calendar year definitely stands out.

Taking apart Tottenham Hotspur by the same scoreline in late November was equally memorable. In the Champions League, they have produced victories by 4-0 over Atlético Madrid and 3-1 against Bayern Munich.

On the road, in the autumn Arsenal brilliantly beat Newcastle United 1-2 at St. James’ Park to first seriously signal their title aspirations. But they have managed only one result better than at Elland Road - and that was the 5-0 drubbing of Leeds at home.

Playing at the Yorkshire side’s atmospheric old stadium is always a tough task, and it was made more fraught this time by the tension which permeated the Arsenal players and supporters during the defeat by Manchester United in their previous league fixture.

But manager Mikel Arteta’s attitude is to embrace the “beautiful” experience of visiting English football’s historic grounds and he has succeeded in transmitting that approach to his players, who absorbed all of Leeds’ early energy in their febrile fortress.

The Gunners totally smothered their hosts, restricting them to one solitary attempt on target in the whole match, in the 49th minute, when a tame Pascal Struijk header from Anton Stach’s corner was easily saved by David Raya.

In contrast, Arsenal scored with their first two efforts on goal. Both originated from corners, one not completely cleared and then another directly converted. A case of set-piece again. There have been 24 in all competitions this season, 19 of them corners.

Each was made by Madueke, with fine balls into the box from the right. It is just a slight shame that Karl Darlow was officially adjudicated to be the scorer of the second - the Leeds goalkeeper thus being responsible for Arsenal’s third own-goal in January alone.

In tennis terminology, all of them would be considered forced rather than unforced errors, due to the quality of the deliveries into the danger area, with Madueke rightly pointing out that his corner was going in anyway before Darlow’s desperate contact.

The value of having wingers on the right flank who can send over great crosses left-footed was underlined by Gabriel Martinelli replicating that skill in the second half for the third goal of the afternoon. Both benefiting scorers were very welcome.

Madueke connected with Martín Zubimendi, whose near post header provided rapid redemption for his mistake giving away a goal against Manchester United. Martinelli found Viktor Gyökeres for a first-time finish to respond to growing recent criticism.

In Saka’s unexpected absence, the first three goals were created in a very Saka-like style. And he needed replacing in more than one way, since he had been meant to captain the team, with Martin Ødegaard on the substitutes’ bench at Elland Road.

It was Gabriel Magalhães who skippered the side until Ødegaard was brought on after an hour. The Norwegian still had enough time to create two goals, producing perfect passes to release Martinelli and then provide the assist for Gabriel Jesus.

There were multiple positives from the second half scoring, as Arteta’s substitutions were highly effective, with Ødegaard, Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus involved in the two goals. Plus both strikers got on the scoresheet, in Gyökeres and Gabriel Jesus.

Above all, the double strike after the interval came from open play - Arsenal’s first in the league for 28 days, removing that weighty issue for the time being. And, following three Premier League games without a win, securing three points was very precious.

Indeed, winning away against Leeds might well even be looked back on in due course as the Saturday afternoon which propelled Arsenal to becoming champions once again following a wait of more than two decades.