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Bukayo Saka's first-half goal was enough to give Arsenal a
spirited victory against an eager Leeds side, marking the first
time in the North London club's history that they have won nine
of their opening 10 games in a top-flight season.
Saka opened the scoring for Arsenal against the run of play in
the 35th minute when he latched onto Martin Odegaard's
through-ball to smash a shot over goalkeeper Illan Meslier's
head from a narrow angle.
The result left Arsenal on 27 points from 10 games, four ahead
of Manchester City, who were playing at Liverpool later on
Sunday, and local rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
"My heart is still racing but I'm just really happy to get the
three points," Saka told Sky Sports. "It was a really tough
game. Leeds did well, especially in the second half, and they
put a lot of pressure on us.
"Big momentum for us, we've won another game. We need to keep
this going and today we showed we can win no matter what."
In a match that was suspended for 38 minutes shortly after
kickoff due to a power cut at the stadium, Arsenal were under
intense pressure from an energetic Leeds side who pressed hard
for 90 minutes and never let the visitors settle down.
Leeds striker Patrick Bamford had the ball in the net within a
minute into the second half as the home crowd erupted, but their
joy was short-lived as the referee ruled the effort out for the
Englishman's foul on Arsenal centre back Gabriel.
Leeds had another opportunity when defender William Saliba
handled the ball in the box, with the VAR asking referee Chris
Kavanagh to take a second look before a penalty was awarded, but
Bamford's strike went wide to give Arsenal a huge let-off.
"I think it would have changed the game. At 1-1, I think we
could have pushed the game," Leeds boss Jesse Marsch said.
The home side were awarded another penalty when Kavanagh sent
off Gabriel in added time for kicking out at Bamford but a VAR
check revealed the striker had pushed the defender to the ground
first and the referee reversed the decision.
Arsenal failed to produce anything of note in the second half
but did enough to stop the waves of Leeds attacks, with
goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale making four saves and even one tackle
in the game.
"It was a really good performance from us. Discipline,
concentration over the entire match even with the late start,"
Marsch added after the result left Leeds 15th in the tableon
nine points from nine games.
"A performance that showed that when we play the way we want to
play, we can be very good. That's the best team in the league
right now and today we were better."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond and
Ken Ferris)
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