Leeds v Arsenal was the only game that survived the raft of postponements that affected the Premier League yesterday, but the Gunners took the opportunity to put more points on the board and cement our 4th place position in the table.
To be fair, Leeds were decimated by injuries, but we avoided the potential banana skin and were easily 3 goals ahead by half time.
The game may have ended 4-1, but Mikel Arteta is once again disappointed that we didn’t carry on and go for the kill after the break, and believes we should have won by a much bigger scoreline.
“I was really pleased,” Arteta told Arsenal.com. “They understood exactly how we have to attack the space we have to use. The execution, the dynamism, the progression, the threat we generated – it was really good.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t score more. I think we had some big big chances but that’s what I like, the way we played, we came here and we imposed ourselves and we really wanted to play. That’s something we have to improve on because in the second half when the game is there, we didn’t do it as well and with the consistency that we need [to for] where we have to get to.
“You look at the games that they’ve played, obviously the last game at the Eithad was a different story but when they went to Stamford bridge they gave Chelsea a real game and today I wasn’t expecting any different because every game they play, they play the same way.
“It’s really uncomfortable, it’s a game you are not used to playing and you don’t play every week so you have changed the [style] to play in a different way.”
Arsenal dropping back after taking the lead seems to have been a common feature this season, and we have generally not taken our chances to improve our goal difference when the opportunity arises, but, then again, if you are 3-0 up at half-time, there is no need to risk injury or burnout if the game is already over, is there?
It was a great game by the gunners,Martinelli should always be given games by such teams as Leeds!