On a cold January night in the FA Cup, Arsenal under Mikel Arteta faced a huge challenge at the Emirates playing a Leeds team that is on fire and on top of the Championship this season.
As well as a dynamic attacking team, Leeds United brought 8,000 fans to North London, giving the match an electric atmosphere and the players a tough time.
The Gunners struggled to get into the game early on, allowing themselves to be dominated by Leeds and, as per usual, lacking the defensive structure to really keep out players like Alioski and Bamford.
It was only the poor finishing from the Leeds side and some stunning saves from Emi Martinez that kept the North London club in the game in the first half. Even while the Gunners struggled to get into the game, there were some promising attacking efforts by Reiss Nelson and Nicolas Pepe.
Half time brought about a huge shift in the game, Alexandre Lacazette is quoted as saying that Arsenal head coach Arteta “shouted a lot” and it certainly got the team going. A brilliant run by Pepe allowed Lacazette to give a heavily deflected assist to Reiss Nelson who got a scrappy finish to put the Reds one up.
Overall some pundits and fans will be saying that Arsenal were lucky to win this game and get through to the fourth round of the FA cup. Given the poor first-half display, a better team would have put themselves one or two goals up against the Gunners.
However, games aren’t won by missed opportunities and fans should be happy that Arsenal under Arteta are able to win the hard games which feel more like a fight than a game of football.
Although Emery’s negative style of play could still be seen in the first half, Arteta made good use of the team’s attacking assets and this should be seen as a sign of good things to come.
