Arsenal            2 (Calafiori 62, Guimarães 70) ​

Leeds United   1 (Justin 55)

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10th October 2026. English Premier League.

60,315.

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I think most Leeds fans probably thought we’d lose this one, hoping we wouldn’t, obviously, but expecting Arsenal to roar back after their 3-0 reversal at Brighton before the break to prove they are still the class of the Premier League and accepting that they have a squad full of top-quality players, players we can’t either afford or attract at this stage of our development. What all Leeds fans wanted was a performance to show how much we’ve progressed since that 5-0 walloping we got at the Emirates early last season, a performance to be proud of and one that would keep optimism high that this season we’ll not be looking over our shoulders all the time worrying about relegation. We got just such a performance.

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For an hour, Leeds were the better side. Okay, Arsenal's quality up front, particularly down both wings, was clear, but they created very little. Their only real moments were a weak Havertz header straight at James Trafford in the first half and a low Martin Ødegaard strike that Trafford saved well just after the break.

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Meanwhile, at the other end, Leeds created a few decent openings, forcing an error from David Raya, who had to backpedal quickly to claim an Ethan Ampadu looping header and then block a vicious Gabi Gudmundsson volley at point-blank range.

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The stats tell the tale of the first half – Leeds 7 shots, Arsenal 4, Leeds 3 on target, Arsenal 1, Leeds 2 big chances, Arsenal 1. Leeds 2 corners, Arsenal none. Leeds delivered a terrific first-half performance, full of pace, press, aggression, and organisation. We reduced the Gunners to a very ordinary-looking side indeed.

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So, we fully deserved our 55th-minute lead. Leeds broke away down the left, Gabi Gudmundsson raced to the byline and crossed low, and Raya could only push it away straight to James Justin. JJ fired it expertly into the roof of the net, leaving two covering defenders with no chance. That was a brilliant moment for the Leeds fans! Just the glimmer of a rare win against the Gunners.

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Sadly, as good as we were in that first half, we all know we are not the finished article; we don't have the sort of quality Arsenal can call on, and it started to show after that first flawless hour. Odd moments had appeared before, loose kicking from James Trafford, a mad moment when he raced miles out of his goal, and the free header we afforded Havertz, for example. Then an old Achilles heel of ours, not tracking a man at the back post, came back to haunt us again as Havertz got away from Gudmundsson to head back across goal, and Calafiori bundled the ball past Trafford, who couldn’t quite react quickly enough to do more than push it into the net.

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It was a moment that turned the game, just when a couple of our players started to fade. A few of our best XI fade after the hour mark: Noah Okafor and Anton Stach, to name but two, and I know Daniel Farke takes plenty of stick for not changing them earlier. The problem is, we simply don’t have quality of the same calibre on our bench to replace them with, unlike Arsenal, who could bring on the likes of Bruno Guimarães, Viktor Gyökeres, and Mikel Merino.

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Would it have made any difference to have brought on Harry Wilson and Brenden Aaronson earlier? I very much doubt it! They were poor again when they came on, loose with the ball and lacking the strength we need when the home side is pushing for a winner and we just need to put our foot on the ball.

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Arsenal were buoyed; their fans were on their feet, and something felt inevitable in the next few minutes as Arsenal finally looked like the quality side they are, passing the ball in quick, neat triangles to get behind an overworked Leeds defence that had been so good for so long. Arsenal's quick feet finally undid us, working the ball to the wily old Bruno Guimarães, the £75 million Bruno Guimarães, who picked his spot and planted a fine low shot into the corner.

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Leeds did make changes, but as noted, bringing on Brenden Aaronson, a clearly out-of-sorts Harry Wilson, and a short-of-match-minutes Jean-Mattéo Bahoya was unlikely to worry the Champions now they had their mojo back.

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No one is at fault; it’s just where we are in our development, in this long-term project the 49ers and Farke are leading us in. We don't have the money or the innate appeal to bring in the kind of quality Arsenal and other top Premier League sides already have; our time will come, but for now we have to make do with the cards we have and, against many sides, we have enough.

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And remember, our best XI, our regular starting XI, has already shown it can match any side. But if it doesn’t get the job done in the first hour or so, we'll likely struggle later in the game. That’s just how it is.

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So, let’s hold our heads high; we have come a long way since that thrashing (those two thrashings) we got against Arsenal last season. Let’s put a similar performance out on the pitch next Sunday and, with a bit of luck, we can get another win on the board… and that one would be sweet indeed!