Leeds face their sternest test of the season so far as they travel down to the Emirates for a saturday lunchtime kick off against Arsenal. The numbers don't look good for the Whites. The recent record is almost entirely one-way. The last time the Whites actually beat the Gunners, Highbury was still standing and Arsenal were trying to retain the title. That was 4 May 2003. Harry Kewell scored inside five minutes, Thierry Henry equalised, Ian Harte’s free-kick was diverted into his own net by Ashley Cole, and Dennis Bergkamp levelled from a Robert Pires cut-back. In the 87th minute Mark Viduka curled the winner past David Seaman.
Leeds stayed up on goal difference. Arsenal’s Double defence ended on the same afternoon. Twenty-three years later, it remains the last Leeds win in the fixture. Since then the sequence has been grim. Arsenal are unbeaten in 16 meetings across all competitions. The last ten completed games have produced nine Arsenal wins and a draw. The most recent scores tell their own story: 5-0 at the Emirates on the opening weekend of last season, 4-0 at Elland Road in January, and before that 4-1, 1-0, 2-1 and 4-1. Across the long history the balance is less lopsided - 129 meetings have brought 55 Arsenal wins, 33 draws and 41 Leeds wins.
The present table offers a slightly kinder reading. Arsenal, the champions, are second on 12 points from five. Leeds are fifth on nine, still unbeaten after two wins and three draws, and only three points adrift. Daniel Farke has called his side underdogs and told them to travel with no fear. He has also argued that fifth is not an accident: over the last 10 or 11 months, Leeds have been among the better points collectors in the division. Opta still gives Arsenal roughly a 69 per cent chance of winning and Leeds about 14. A point would feel like a result. .Team news gives the visitors a narrow opening.
Arsenal have returned to action with a lengthy casualty list. William Saliba is out until late autumn with a back injury. Kai Havertz and Christos Tzolis are unavailable after thigh and hamstring problems on international duty. Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa, Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera are all doubts, though Rice’s hamstring issue is thought to be minor and he is expected to be assessed rather than ruled out. Martin Ødegaard should be fit. A plausible Arsenal side still contains David Raya, Jurrien Timber, Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori, Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyökeres, with Eberechi Eze likely to start in the absence of Tzolis and Havertz.
Leeds are thinner in attack than they would like. Daniel James is out with a back injury picked up with Wales. Joe Rodon remains in individual rehab and is not expected back until around November. Mateo Joseph is a longer-term absence. Harry Wilson, missing since a muscle injury before the Crystal Palace draw, has been back in team training since Tuesday and will be monitored. Jean-Matteo Bahoya, signed on deadline day and then sidelined with an ankle strain on France Under-21 duty, trained with the group on Thursday. Farke has said there is a chance he is available.
If neither makes it, the likely shape is James Trafford behind a back three of James Justin, Amar Muharemovic and Nico Elvedi, with Jayden Bogle, Ao Tanaka, Ethan Ampadu, Anton Stach and Gabriel Gudmundsson in support of Noah Okafor and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Calvert-Lewin is still looking for his first goal against Arsenal since February 2020. Arsenal will expect to reassert themselves at home after the Brighton defeat. Leeds, organised, low on goals and still unbeaten, will try to show that the gap between fifth and the champions is narrower than 23 years of this fixture suggests.
