Arsenal: 4 negatives from 4-1 win over Leeds United

Arsenal are giving the supporters plenty to cheer about this Christmas with their third win in a week consolidating their place in the top four after a blip earlier in December.

Back-to-back defeats against Manchester United and Everton were poor examples of Mikel Arteta’s managerial credentials. Mistakes from him and the players contributed to those disappointing results, making the improvement since all the more enjoyable.

Three straight Premier League wins has seen Arsenal not concede from open play and find the back of the net themselves on nine occasions.

Outstanding individual displays have melded together to form equally impressive collective performances, with each aspect of the team looking at its best in some of the more complete outings seen under Arteta’s guidance.

4 negatives as Arsenal beat Leeds United 4-1 in the Premier League to make it three straight wins and keep their Champions League goals on track

There are reasons to be positive galore.

A young quartet of Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli continue taking gigantic strides in their development with goals, assists and commitment in abundance.

Martinelli is stealing all the headlines at the moment but each one of these stars are being mentioned for all the right reasons. Competing with one another for a starting berth, rarely has there been such an aggressive battle for minutes among players of this age group.

But, as ever, not all went as swimmingly has it could have against Leeds. It may seem strange to think so after scoring four goals on the road but some aspects of the match left a little to be desired, while other elements provide some concerns.

1. Arsenal Only Scored Four

How dare they!

It will come across as very ‘First World Problems’, but heading into half-time with only three goals was actually somewhat disappointing.

Oh how things can change in football so quickly, eh?

Left puzzled as to why Arsenal couldn’t create enough chances or score goals, now the situation is turned on its head where the team are carving open too many opportunities for them to score.

Breaking a Premier League record for shots on target in that first half, while a large portion of them were efforts straight down Illan Meslier’s throat, when a team is hitting the target that often they should be finding the net more than they did. One of the goals was a deflected strike as well. Couldn’t that one have been saved for another day?

Having only moved into a positive goal difference for the first time this season in the previous win over West Ham, the incredible volume of high turnovers Arsenal were forcing was giving them all the invitations they could want to start putting space between themselves and that dreaded zero goal difference.

Is it nitpicking? Would anyone have taken 4-1 before kick-off? Yes on both points. But having peppered the Leeds goal and mustered so many goalscoring opportunities, a few more wouldn’t go amiss.

However, Martinelli’s immense finishing is going to continue helping in that regard.

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2. Cedric is Such a Huge Downgrade From Tomiyasu

It’s been a lingering fear throughout the season.

Since arriving on deadline day, Takehiro Tomiyasu had played every minute in the Premier League for Arsenal. His arrival at right-back has been transformational to the whole team, aiding them structurally in every department and performing his specific role to such a level it acts as the platform for everyone else to improve.

What would happen if he got injured? One need only look at the remaining 30 minutes of Saturday night to get their answer.

Once Cedric came on to replace him the drop off was stark. The gulf in class on that side was frightening, with the Portuguese nowhere near as dominant as Tomiyasu. Not just in terms of his quality on and off the ball, when the summer signing went off Arsenal lost all aerial control on that side and an out-ball for Ramsdale to aim for.

Cedric isn’t anywhere near as physically imposing, technically sound or combative in the challenges. Perhaps worst of all is that Cedric didn’t even do anything necessarily poor. It’s just a wildly long drop off from the levels Tomiyasu produces.

He’s so key to this team. Irreplaceable.

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3. The Second Half Performance

Arsenal taking their foot off the pedal after getting their noses in front has been a major gripe for supporters this season. It’s been listed as a coaching issue, as a mentality issue, and as an inexperience issue. Nobody really knows the exact reason.

Having stormed to a 3-0 half-time lead, one where they could and should have been further in front, more of the same was expected after the break with Leeds at sixes and sevens and Arsenal aiming to boost their goal difference.

That did not materialse. Having hit the target 11 times in the opening half, Arsenal only did so one one occasion after the break. That was the goal.

A combination of Leeds pressing wiser and Arsenal dropping off, it was perhaps not so much a negative, but slightly disappointing to see the team look distinctly more laboured after the break. Tiredness seemed to creep into the game and it almost looked as if they were too confident. Urgency had dropped and they were happy to see the game out from the 45th onward.

This is different, though, and on this occasion by no means a great complaint. Why? Because Arsenal were winning 3-0. With the same team having started three matches in a week and been in cruise control at that scoreline, easing off is far more understanding given the game state and the excursions over the previous seven days.

You can’t go for double figures every game, but if conserving energy was what they wanted then keeping the intensity up for the opening stages of the second half and then stepping back a touch might have been a better course of action.

Any major grievances? Not at all. Just a small case of the ‘what if’s’.

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4. Racist Abuse Directed At Arsenal Players

It’s a disease. A poison that infects peoples’ minds.

As Nicolas Pepe and Nuno Tavares were warming up near the corner of the stadium on Saturday, racist abuse was directed at them from someone in the stands. Rob Holding approached the fourth official in the 33rd minute to inform them that he had heard racial abuse, and a note was made. Well done to Holding for speaking out in defence of his teammates.

The referee was made aware of the claim, and when Bukayo Saka celebrated his goal down near that end of the pitch the referee asked him and his teammates not to get too close to the supporters. It’s appalling that he felt he had to ask them to do so.

This is a Leeds United fanbase that sung from minute one to minute 93 in support of their team, despite the dreadful football they were presented with. And yet, one disgusting individual stood out.

It is devastating to have to speak about. So much effort has gone into trying to eradicate racism from the sport, so to hear the another case of such abuse come to light in the stadium is a heart-breaking reminder of the scale of the issue at hand.

It makes you sick to your stomach.