Arsenal: 4 major positives from 4-1 Leeds win

For the first time since 2016, Arsenal will sit in the top four positions in the table on Christmas Day after beating Leeds 4-1 at Elland Road on Saturday.

You can only beat what is in front of you, and you can still only win even when the rest of the division isn’t playing. Arsenal might be fourth but the constant postponement of matches has handed them a welcome opening to climb the table.

And they’ve actually taken it.

Kicking off like a house on fire, Arsenal hit a mode unlike any previously seen under Mikel Arteta with the Leeds goal being pummeled in record breaking fashion. Hitting the target 11 times set a new Premier League record for the first half of a match, with Illan Meslier being beaten on three occasions.

Arsenal: 4 major positives from 4-1 win over Leeds in the Premier League as Arteta’s side consolidate top four position at Elland Road

The first was a well-taken effort from Gabriel Martinelli after some tenacious work from Alexandre Lacazette won the ball back in the box. Meslier couldn’t prevent it from being swept home.

His dinked effort over the onrushing Frenchman after being played through by Granit Xhaka was the pick of the bunch, with Bukayo Saka hammering home the Gunners’ advantage with a deflected effort shortly before the break.

Leeds made tweaks to their pressing style after the break and were awarded the chance to reduce the deficit from the penalty spot when Benjamin White felled Joel Gelhardt. Raphinha made no mistake.

However, Emile Smith Rowe had the final say on the night when the super-sub fired past Meslier after a gorgeous chipped pass from Martin Odegaard. It was a brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable night, with so much to be giddy about.

1. The Movement of the Fantastic Four

Do the players understand space? Do they know where to move when they need to? Can the absorb information and act upon it accordingly?

This four certainly can. Get the wide camera angle out and watch how Lacazette, Martinelli, Saka and Odegaard shift across that pitch. That is worth the price of admission alone.

In a blistering opening 45 minutes, where Leeds actually had the first real sight of goal, the vibrancy of the front four was beyond what the hosts could handle. Odegaard was picking up positions in Leeds’ back pockets and leaving his imprint on every aspect of the game, with the attacking trio wreaking havoc elsewhere.

Saka had been positioned high and very wide to focus on Stuart Dallas, with the same said of Martinelli on Cody Drameh. The aim was to get the full-backs isolated and let individual quality sing, with interchanging, particularly down the left, when Kieran Tierney joined the attack and Lacazette dropped off.

It was extremely intelligent football. These were players knowing their roles, but adapting to the shape of the opposition accordingly and attacking the spaces vacated at just the right times. It was chaotic cleverness, if such a thing exists.

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2. Aubameyang Absence Not Felt At All

The most complete performance under Arteta came just previously against West Ham, and the most dangerous attacking half of football came in against Leeds on Saturday.

Those performances haven’t come specifically because Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hasn’t been playing, but they’ve shown how capable this young team is of operating without him.

Most of all, his omission has presented Martinelli with the minutes he’s earning. If Aubameyang was up top it’s more likely that Smith Rowe starts on the left and then there are various knock-on effects, and as James McNicholas noted, Arteta is no longer Aubameyang’s biggest concern; Martinelli is.

Lacazette has been excellent up top and is, profile-wise, near enough as close to the ideal centre-forward for this particular set of young attacking players. He is the foil to let all of their better qualities sing, even if he can, and should, still be upgraded on.

Aside from the tactical side of matters, purely from a mental standpoint this group are completely undeterred by the noise around the club and have proven themselves to be exceptional professionals despite it. Beating Southampton, West Ham and Leeds in the matches since the captaincy drama, scoring nine goals and conceding just once, is the sign of a team united and unflustered.

Whether or not Aubameyang has a future at Arsenal, he’s not getting back in this team.

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3. Emile Smith Rowe Refuses to Be Forgotten

Fielding Martinelli from the start again meant Smith Rowe had to miss out. It’s like a catch 22 situation: you can’t lose in selecting either, but you’re left with a strange sadness that the other isn’t playing.

Football matches are at least 90 minutes long, though, and the team that starts is not the team that finishes, so fortunately supporters still get the chance to see all of the glorious talent on show.

What Smith Rowe is doing is special, however. Since coming into the team nearly a year ago, he’s been practically an ever-present. This is the first time he’ll have a taste of being benched, even if it’s not a permanent matter and rotation is paying a part, so how he reacts to that is important.

Being young and humble he won’t be kicking up a fuss and will understand. That doesn’t mean he’ll like it.

There is, quite literally, nothing more he could be doing to remind the manager that he has an unbelievably tough decision on his mind. Coming off the bench to score twice in two games? Arteta will wake up in the middle of the night hearing his office door banging. To have this from his squad is something he could only dream of.

Heck, he might start feeling like Pep Guardiola being able to rotate attacking talent, albeit him having about eight players fewer than his former mentor.

What is most important is that unity and competition. Martinelli speaking after the match and lavishing Smith Rowe with praise as he did shows that what’s going on to earn a starting berth is all healthy competition, the like that Smith Rowe is fiercely competing for.

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4. Being Able to Call it a ‘Back Five’

No need to list the players individually. Just say ‘the back five’, and everyone knows exactly who is involved.

There can be no taking that for granted: Arsenal have a set back four and goalkeeper assembled through excellent talent ID. Beyond that, we actually like them, and they’re all aged 24 or under.

Everyone knew Shkodran Mustafi was going to play, but that didn’t mean everyone was happy about it. Instead, there are five players here who there are next to no arguments about over being the first choice back five. They bring their own individual traits to defence and provide a balance and structure for the rest of the team to excel.

Nuno Tavares is the only real debate over a starting berth but Tierney is gradually building his sharpness back and the combination with Martinelli is steadily growing down that left side. He is a better fit for the Brazilian than Nuno due to his preferences to overlap and leave Martinelli the half-space. It’s helping him look as strong as he is.

Tomiyasu has been transformational to this team and may even go down as the signing of the season for Arsenal, while White continues to impress even if it was his brain fart that handed Leeds their goal.

It’s a hugely likeable and brilliantly efficient group of players who can be blanketed with ‘the back five’. That’s a small pleasure to keep you warm in the winter months.