Leeds United had been denied a much-needed win as they had been held by ten-man Arsenal at Elland Highway on Sunday night.
The hosts spurned various nice alternatives within the first-half and actually ought to have taken the lead. They had been then given an enormous enhance quickly after the break as Nicolas Pepe was awarded a straight purple card for a headbutt. The Whites hit the woodwork thrice all through the second-half within the search of a winner – Rodrigo’s curling effort at first bounced off of the angle of submit and bar. Then, Bamford’s late header additionally struck the woodwork earlier than Raphinha additionally hit the identical upright. They weren’t fairly capable of finding a approach by means of although, that means the factors had been shared.
Listed below are three issues we discovered from the sport:
Pepe blows probability
All through the worldwide break, Arsenal man Pepe made clear his wishes of getting extra first workforce soccer on the Emirates Stadium having solely began one Premier League match previous to conflict at Elland Highway. He acquired his want in Yorkshire, beginning on the fitting of a entrance three.
That was about pretty much as good because the Ivorian’s day acquired nonetheless as he put in a dire efficiency on the ball, failing to actually threaten the Leeds backline in any respect all through the 90 minutes. It was a far cry from the type of shows he was handing over for Lille, a side that satisfied Arsenal to half with a document price for his signature.
He then topped that off with a second of sheer idiocy in an off-the-ball incident with Ezgjan Alioski the place he appeared to headbutt the Macedonian. After consulting VAR, the referee produced a purple card. While Pepe will now be suspended for the subsequent few video games, he will definitely not have satisfied Mikel Arteta or supporters that he’s worthy of a beginning berth after that.
Gunners misfiring
Pepe’s dismissal at Elland Highway solely exacerbated an issue they had been struggling with already – an actual lack of creativity. At some factors the Gunners’ actually did look devoid of concepts and contemplating that they had been developing in opposition to a Leeds aspect that had conceded eight targets of their final two Premier matches, that may vastly disappoint Arteta.
The North Londoners solely managed two pictures on the right track all through your complete match, one every from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka. Certainly, that additionally implies that the Gunners have solely discovered the online as soon as of their final 5 Premier League matches – a side that’s nowhere close to adequate for a aspect who actually must be pushing for the European locations this marketing campaign.
Leeds’ aim contact abandons them
Throughout their first season again within the Premier League, Leeds have received plaudits for his or her swashbuckling, attacking model. In truth, just one aspect have managed to disclaim Marcelo Bielsa’s males in entrance of aim within the league this season, that being Wolverhampton Wanderers. That side was once more evident on Sunday, with Leeds having fun with the vast majority of the possibilities.
Nonetheless, they had been merely not as medical as they’ve been beforehand, losing a number of great probabilities. There was slight misfortune in that they managed to strike the woodwork thrice however not with the ability to discover a winner in opposition to a aspect that performed the vast majority of the sport with ten males will likely be an enormous disappointment to Marcelo Bielsa. In higher information although, regardless of that lack of targets, Leeds are nonetheless at odds of 9/1 with Betfair to be relegated from the Premier League so it doesn’t look an excessive amount of of an issue fairly but.
Match Report
Leeds United: Meslier (7); Dallas (7), Koch (6), Cooper (7), Ayling (7) (Rodrigo (6), 71′); Klich (6), Phillips (7), Alioski (6); Raphinha (7), Harrison (7) (Poveda (N/A), 80′), Bamford (6).
Arsenal: Leno (7); Tierney (7), Gabriel (7), Holding (6), Bellerin (7), Xhaka (6), Willock (6) (Saka (7), 57′ (Maitland-Niles (N/A), 90+3′)), Ceballos (6); Willian (4) (Willock (5), 45′), Pepe (3), Aubameyang (5).
Targets: N/A
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Yellow Playing cards: Dallas (15′), Cooper (86′), Phillips (90+3′)
Pink Playing cards: Pepe (51′)
