On Saturday afternoon, the league leaders, Arsenal, will welcome Leeds United to the Emirates stadium for what will be the first of Arsenal’s last 10 Premier League games of the season, as they look to close in on their first league title since the 2003/4 ‘Invincibles’ triumph. 

Arsenal currently sit in pole position, eight points clear of Manchester City, having played one game more. After a blip in February, losing to Everton, Manchester City and also dropping points against Brentford, the North London side seem to have recovered their previous form.

They have won their last six games in the Premier League, scoring 19 goals in the process. 

Meanwhile, Leeds go into the weekend fixture in a desperate league position. They sit in 14th place, one point off the bottom three having played one game more than 18th place West Ham. The Yorkshire outfit have only won six games this season, no more than all three sides in the relegation zone.

However, Leeds have gained points in three out of their last four matches, only losing to Chelsea. They've gained a draw against Brighton and wins against both Southampton and Wolves. 

If Leeds are to continue this up turn in form, they will have to change their luck against the Gunners. Leeds have never beaten Arsenal at the Emirates stadium, with their last victory coming in the 2002/2003 season, when they won 3-2 at Highbury. 

In that season by the 2nd of March, Arsenal had coincidentally been eight points clear of a different Manchester rival, Manchester United at the summit of the league table.

However, they would go on to capitulate to sacrifice their league title, which was all but confirmed by that 3-2 loss to Leeds.  

  • Team News 

Arsenal fans and Mikel Arteta will be thankful that they have no fresh injury concerns to report as they go into the last phase of what could be a very successful season. 

Eddie Nketiah and William Saliba are still expected to be out for Arsenal, with reports in France suggesting that the latter may be out for the next few weeks, which would severely weaken Arsenal’s back four solidity. Rob Holding will be expected to keep his place in the side for the Leeds game if this is the case. 

Meanwhile, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohammed Elneny are both out for the remainder of the season.

On a more positive note for Arsenal, Arteta is faced with the headache of who to start in Arsenal’s central striker position, with a fully fit Gabriel Jesus and an inform Leandro Trossard, who has scored one and assisted six since arriving at the end of January. 

Thomas Partey will also be expected to return for Arsenal, after being left out of Ghana's match vs Angola as a 'precaution'. 

For Leeds, and manager Javia Gracia, things went from bad to worse in the international break, with the club suffering several injuries. 

Gracia confirmed that Leeds suffered some ‘big problems’ in the international break, with US midfielder Tyler Adams potentially ruled out for the season. In addition, Wilfried Gnonto and Max Wöber are both ruled out, with the latter having to be hooked off after 34 minutes in Austria’s 4-1 victory over Azerbaijan.

Gracia may be forced to call upon centre back Liam Cooper, who has played over 250 games for United, captaining them many times. The 31 year old has not featured since Jesse March was in the dugout at Elland Road, however he managed 15 minutes in Scotland’s impressive 2-0 victory over Spain in the international break.

  • Leed’s survival hopes rest on eradicating defensive errors

In Leeds United’s last game they won 4-2 away from home against Wolves. It was a game that summarised what so much of this season has been about for the Yorkshire club. 

Leeds took the lead early, scoring from energetic and aggressive attacking play from Gnonto, who set up Jack Harrison for his 2nd goal under Gracia. Leeds would go on to score two more, being 3-0 up by the 49th minute. 

However, after two poor clearances from Illan Meslier and Wöber, the away side suddenly found themselves holding out for a narrow win, before the Spaniard Rodrigo Moreno sealed the victory with a goal in the 97th minute. 

Leeds have had no issue scoring all season long, with the ball hitting the back of the net more times than both Chelsea and Aston Villa, who both sit 11 points above them in the league standings. They've also only scored four goals less than Newcastle who sit 5th in the Premier League table. 

For Leeds, it is their defensive frailties that have caused the club to slide down the league rankings, with 44 goals conceded.

In addition, Leeds have conceded the 4th most amount of goals from errors, with Gracia highlighting in his pre-match conference. He said: “For sure you need to make a very good defensive work. If you don’t do it you don’t have any chance.”

With Wöber out for Saturday, Leeds face a big challenge in stopping the free scoring Arsenal side, that have only lost once all season at home.

  • Arsenal’s ‘Opportunity for Greatness’ 

Arsenal players huddle prior to their game before the international break against Crystal Palace. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Arsenal players huddle prior to their game before the international break against Crystal Palace. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Earlier this week, Arsenal’s 7th piece of stadium artwork was completed.

Titled ‘Future Brilliance’, it is a piece of work that celebrates Arsenal’s rich history of bringing through it’s own youth players and providing them with opportunity to reach ‘greatness’.

Inspired from Arsené Wenger's famous quote, ‘Here you have the opportunity to get out the greatness that is in each of you’. 

It is designed with the help of distinguished artists such as Jeremy Deller and a host of community and fan led groups. 

The piece features players such as Charlie George, Jack Wilshere, David O’Leary, Liam Brady, Lianne Sanderson and Kelly Smith, who all came through Arsenal’s youth set up to make their name in the red and white shirt of the Gunners.

This season it is the youth of Arsenal, which is again shining the brightest and leading Arsenal to what may potentially be their fourth Premier League title, and first since 2004. 

While the youth of this team may not have all been sourced from Arsenal’s Hale End Academy, it’s star certainly was. 

Bukayo Saka has been with Arsenal since the age of 8, and in 2018 made his debut at the age of 17. The winger has gone from strength to strength under Mikel Arteta, with a wand of a left foot, pace galore, and incisive dribbling that can cause problems for any defender in the league. 

Saka has scored 12 goals this season and assisted ten, reaching double figures in both categories for the first time in his career. The forward also had a very positive international break for England, ending the break with one goal and one assist against Ukraine. 

Saka, who is now 21 years of age, will be crucial in not only potentially ensuring an Arsenal victory  against Leeds on Saturday, but also in helping them to finish the season with the league title. 

These next ten league games presents a huge opportunity, for greatness for both Saka and this youthful Arsenal side. 

As Arteta said in the week, “Now it has to be about enjoying the last part of the season, with enthusiasm, energy and a real hunger to continue to do what we’ve done, and if possible better.”