Mikel Arteta must have had a sinking feeling come half time at Elland Road. Missing Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey thanks to a positive coronavirus test and a thigh injury respectively, he had switched from 3-4-3 to 4-2-3-1 with Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos sitting in front of the defence and Joe Willock ahead of them in attacking midfield.
While, logically, it would make sense for a midfield trio to have more of a cutting edge than a two-man set-up, Arsenal had zero shots on target in the first half. Not only did Leeds dominate possession, they created a steady stream of opportunities on the counter-attack where the visitors were limited to occasional half chances and speculative efforts from distance.
Having struggled for creativity in their 3-0 defeat Aston Villa before the international break with Elneny and Partey as their midfield pairing, the fact that Arsenal looked even more constrained despite a change of formation and personnel should be a source of anxiety for Arteta. There is a sense that, no matter what he does, there is a disconnect at the heart of the team at the moment. Arsenal seem to be constantly buffering in attack, a side suffering from low connectivity and slow loading times.
It wasn’t until the 60-minute mark that they finally hit the target – this after Nicolas Pepe’s groanworthy red card for headbutting Gjanni Alioski saw them reduced to 10 men – Kieran Tierney combining with Bukayo Saka before the latter teed up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a swivelled shot. Saka had been brought on for Willock moments earlier and, despite Leeds’ man advantage, he at least brought some zip going forwards.
This was Willock’s first Premier League appearance of the season and, while he’s impressed in the Europa League this term, Leeds made life difficult for him. It didn’t help that Xhaka and Ceballos failed to get a steady grip on the ball, but at no point did Arsenal seem to be in control in the middle of the park.
Arteta can take encouragement from a dogged defensive rearguard action, with Gabriel Magalhaes impressing once again at the centre of defence. Tierney and Hector Bellerin showed plenty of fight and did their best to carry the ball forwards but, with a distinct lack of movement in front of them, there was little they could do to change the tempo.
Bellerin teed up Saka for Arsenal’s best chance of the match late on with a diagonal ball which bisected Leeds’ defence, though Illan Meslier managed to shepherd him out wide before making a smart save. Bellerin’s pass was a rare moment of incision for the visitors and showed exactly the sort of vision that Arteta needs from his midfielders, but isn’t getting.
Much as his defenders battled to preserve their clean sheet, Arteta was still only spared another defeat by the woodwork. Rodrigo thundered a shot off Bernd Leno’s crossbar with 10 minutes to play, while Rafinha almost won it for Leeds at the death only to see his effort rattle off the post and ricochet away.
Willian’s woes
Arteta has generally preferred playing 3-4-3 this season which, while it limits Arsenal’s options in the midfield, allows Bellerin and Saka to add extra creativity in the wide areas as wing-backs. With the return to a back four there was renewed onus on Pepe and Willian, deployed on either side of Willock, to create chances out wide, which they resolutely failed to do.
While there was no accounting for Pepe’s inane sending off, Willian was replaced by Reiss Nelson at half-time after failing to create a single chance and, for someone who is meant to be a wide playmaker, his last few performances have lacked the necessary spark. Pepe will now spend an enforced spell on the sidelines, but Arteta may well decide that Willian needs a hard reset too.
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