01/02/2026 – Leeds 0-4 Arsenal “A Perfect Response: Arsenal Smash Leeds”
I’m writing this as Spurs have seemingly turned into a charity teamed against City but what a result for Arsenal yesterday. With Villa losing at home to Brentford earlier that feels really important for the team’s confidence and putting last week behind us. The goals were flowing and OG secured their place as our joint top goal scorer once again. It wasn’t just a win, but a performance with conviction, control, and a bit of swagger. Leeds away is never a formality, and Elland Road can turn into a pressure cooker if you let them get a sniff. Instead, we walked in, shut the noise out, and played like a team with something to prove.
Declan Rice set the tone on his 300th Premier League appearance. He played like a man who’d taken the United loss personally, snapping into duels and driving us forward. Zubimendi, who had such a rough moment last week, looked far more settled. It was the kind of performance he needed: simple, disciplined, and topped off with a good goal. Madueke came into the side just before KO due to Saka’s injury that we can hope isn’t a bad one, I’ve heard hamstring which would not be good, but when you have Madueke as a backup it really highlights how good our recruitment has been. Madueke with an assist and a load of dangerous set pieces, he was superb. What I like about Madueke is how direct he is, it doesn’t matter which full back he’s up against he’s always intent on taking them on time and time again. I’m so glad Gyokores got back on the scoresheet, especially as he really should’ve tucked his earlier chance away. He was powerful and worked tremendously hard. A clean sheet away from home in the Premier League is never something to shrug at. Saliba and Gabriel were back to their imperious best dominant in the air, calm under pressure, and completely unfazed by Leeds. Raya barely had anything meaningful to do, which tells you everything about the control we had. The most important thing wasn’t the scoreline though, it was the response. After a loss like the United one, you can spiral or you reset. We reset. And we did it emphatically.
I want to quickly mention our perfect record in the Champions League after our 3-2 win over Kairat on Wednesday. It wasn’t a vintage performance by any means but there were some minutes in the legs for players coming back from injury and it allowed for some rotation. Havertz was extremely impressive on his return and added a presence into the midfield always on the second ball as it came out of the box. To go eight out of eight against Europe’s best is seriously impressive and it means we now have the second leg home advantage for the rest of the competition as well as obviously jumping past the playoff round which would’ve been another two games we didn’t need.
So, the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi final on Tuesday. A game that of course would be great to win but as usual in this competition my main concern is avoiding injuries, especially with Saka now out. Chelsea are in great form only losing to us since Liam Rosenior took over. They are vulnerable at the back but definitely a danger going forward too. With more players back from injury and up to speed I would like to see a few changes to keep things fresh and avoid any further injuries. Let’s see if we can book a spot at Wembley.
With Sunderland next in the league this was the perfect way to steady the ship. Six points from Leeds and Sunderland was a non-negotiable, and we’re halfway there. More importantly, the performance felt like a cleansing of the doubts that had crept in last week. If the United game was a blip, this was the correction. COYG!
Hahaha Spurs have done something useful! They have gone from a charity team to helping us extend the gap BACK TO SIX! Get in!
The Northbank Blogger.
Player Ratings:
Raya 7/10
Timber 7.5/10
Saliba 8/10
Gabriel 8/10
Hincapie 7.5/10
Zubimendi 8.5/10
Rice 8.5/10
Havertz 6/10
Madueke 9/10
Gyokores 8/10
Trossard 6/10
Subs:
Odegaard 8/10 Califiori 7/10
Martinelli 8/10 Jesus 8/10
Eze N/A
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