Official Arsenal team to face Leeds United – Willian starts

It is probably too soon to claim that this match is a must-win for Mikel Arteta otherwise he will be fired but with some of the fan base already turning against him, he simply cannot afford to drop points at Elland Road this afternoon.

The 3-0 loss at home to Aston Villa just before the international break was appalling, anything like that today and you just know the atmosphere will begin to turn toxic and that no one wants.

The fans have been demanding that Arteta makes changes, well, this is the team he has gone with today, make your own minds up whether Arteta has got it right or wrong.

Do you like the team that Arteta has gone with to face off against Leeds United this afternoon?

Leave us your comments below and maybe predict the score at the same time.

Also, if you go to the official Arsenal website here you will be able to get live commentary text and radio.

JustArsenal predicted line up (for comparison) here

Tags Arsenal Team

269 Comments

        1. He’s been a shadow of his Europa league self so far unfortunately. Leeds are not giving him or any of our players breathing space right now

  1. This is Joe’s well deserved chance to make a real statement!

    Either Auba through the middle or Willian false 9 again (please no). Very surprised Willian is ahead of Saka but may just be a rest for the lad as he’s played a lot of minutes in the last week or so.

    4-4-3??? 🤞

    1. If Willian starts as a false nine again, it’d likely be a disaster. Because he’s too weak to hold the opponents off

      We need a taller false nine in the mold of Firmino, Giroud or Harry Kane

    2. Back 4 👍 good.
      But Lius should have come in for HOLDIMG.
      A nd WILLIEM is he isn’t function today? I think he shouldn’t be a starter for our Dealing TEAM.

  2. I prefer Luiz to holding. Don’t know why Luiz could not even make the bench.
    I wish arsenal the best of luck

  3. Willock finally starts! I hope he can make a lot of crosses and dribbles from the right side, as what he did in EL games.

    I think it would be 4-3-3 when we have the ball:
    ……………………… Leno
    Bellerin . Holding . Magalhaes . Tierney
    …………………….. Xhaka
    ………… Willock …………. Ceballos
    Pepe ………………………………….. Willian
    ……………………… Aubameyang

    And 3-4-3 when we’re defending:
    ………………………. Leno
    ……….. Holding . Magalhaes . Xhaka
    Bellerin . Willock . Ceballos . Tierney
    …. Pepe … Aubameyang … Willian

  4. Now we can only wait and hope… Arteta seems to have bulged to pressure… I hope these Arsenal fans can give him a break now…

  5. It’s a 4231 with Willock behind Auba. Let’s see how this goes. Leeds are playing 3331. They are setup to press. I see a win for us.

    1. Phenom this leeds formation is weird, 3331? This man is obsessed with pressing. There will surely be lots of corners in this match.

  6. Is auba playing center forward or Willian as a false 9, I’m sorry but can someone please explain to me.

  7. I just hope xhaka will not pile more pressures on our already fragile defence with his side way and negative passes.

    Sheffield United are playing the same rubbish side way pattern against west harm United. They are getting punished for it already.
    You can’t escape being punished even by weakest team if you insist on boring negative side ways passes instead playing attacking football.

    I hope arteta realises this…

    1. Hey, Arteta has changed the formation… He has placed Auba down the centre… He has no other option than to play Xhaka and Cebalos… He has played Willock and Pepe… So now we back to sideways passing… Already too negative before the game even begins…

  8. Whatever the result, our Manager has made the right move to change from the back three set up.I hope his decision bears fruit, and I think it will.Ever optimistic.

    1. Grandad I think we may see the 3-4-3 in some way in the match. Like Xhaka dropping to CB or LWB to defend against Leeds press and facilitate counters.

  9. Willian!!!!! No logic for it whatsoever, his performance has been dire. Arteta credibility hangs by a thread

    1. Let’s give Arteta the benefit of the doubt. What if Willian shines and bags a hat trick?

      Let’s wait and see.

      1. 😆😆
        Seems like it’s Leeds against Leno alone.
        Please tell me the score at the end, but only if we won.

  10. Team selection looks decent. Now let’s hope its a straight foward formation and not some over complicated arteta ball.

  11. Leeds will be out to press and harass. A bit worried for Xhaka. He tends to slip up when being pressed.

    Hope we won’t loose too many balls in our half and capitalise on their shaky defence. COYG!

      1. Wait. He did not win all aerial battles. He was a threat down left. Wonder why they changed up? He has one shot I think which went wide but was our closest chance after Aubameyang’s wayward shot and Pepe cross shot that hit the bar.

  12. Kedar..Man does next to nothing.. Recurrently loses the ball..And keeps attempting defence splitting passes that Never seem to happen..

      1. Pepe is a waste of money not his fault but just not good enough but then he is in good company at 5he moment

  13. Anything other than a win here and arteta would have lost the faith of a sizeable number of Arsenal fans..

  14. Anyone remembers when Fernando Alonso yelled “GP2 engine, GP2 engine”? I’m about to start yelling “Championship level, Championship level!”

  15. Bellerin pepe and holding the list can go on are given the ball away so cheaply and is aubameyang playing. We are playing like strangers

  16. Shout out to Bellerin…Really getting back to his best…Deserves a clean sheet which he’ll definitely not get today..

        1. He has done jack shit … and most of their attacks have come down that flank coz he backs off and is easy to attack …

  17. My god … no shape no quality no effort no threat . it’s shameful … no comment on xhaka willock is laughable willian is another yesterday’s man Pepe is a lost lamb and aube not much better … Leeds dependence on bamford so far our saving grace but we haven’t had a shock on target

  18. Leeds are wasteful. I sniff a smash and grab win for us. Vut Pepe needs to support Bellerin or he might be subbed at half time. Except the cross that hit the bar he hasnt done anything worthwhile today.

      1. Wasting forward plays by getting the ball stuck? Has pace but doesnt use it? Couldn’t recieve that great ball from Xhaka to initiate the counters? Willian has an equally lukewarm game so far and Auba has been awful.

      1. I’m hoping they rue all of those missed chances, Sid… I’m all for a smash ‘n grab right now – it’s desperate measures time!!
        At least they’re playing well and creating, Sid. As for us, well, I’m not exactly sure what we’re doing!!
        Relieved it’s still 0-0 😅

        1. We dis have 2 good chances Sue. Aubameyang’s wayward shot and Pepe’s cross. Also some half chances wasted by our players due to indecisiveness. That last shot from Pepe was good though

  19. Are xhaka and caballos playing as center backs? I really don’t want to be negative but there is nothing else to say about this negative football. Willock is trying but just doesn’t have the quality for this level.

  20. MA can’t perform with 3-4-3
    He can’t perform with 4-3-3
    Can’t with 4-2-3-1
    What are his managerial skills??

    1. Well I was delighted to see Wilock in but again we just look so bereft of ideas and confidence, everything is forced.
      Watching Ieobi today and pondering the loss of Ox it makes me wonder how we got to here, oh for a powerful attacking dribbler in our squad, (and dont get ne started on Gnabry!)
      Leeds and others look like a well drilled team but we look like a mid table bunch of individuals.

      I read before thos game that 7 is the number of.shots on target auba has had so far this season which is the same as Bamfords goals scored!

    1. Aubameyang must come off it will give the other players a lift. He hasn’t been the same since he got his new contract 🤔
      Arteta has to change something or we will get beaten heavily again

  21. Great first half for me personally. Watched 20 minutes, laughed after the Ceballos FK, then took a nice relaxing shower because i knew i wasnt missing anything. So nice

  22. Thanks Kedar..I hope more fans begin to ask the right questions…
    Zero shot on target against a newly promoted team..

  23. Arteta tried to keep everything simple by instructing Leno to distribute with long goal kicks and relying on Aubameyang’s/ Willock’s height to receive the long pass. Unfortunately none of them has Giroud’s aerial ability and strength

    I think he had better use his EL tactic or use Ceballos as a CAM, but he played safely. He’d probably use Lacazette, Nelson and Saka as shocking elements in the second half, if we still can’t control the game

    1. Leno is already used to playing from the back. He is no Martinez, he can’t pass a long shot to a targeted player successfully.
      Perhaps MA may instruct him to start playing from the back .

  24. i dun understand why everyone is on pepe’s @ss… what abt auba, willian, willock? what have they done?

    pepe’s winning all the aerial duels and got some decent shots off

    1. Because he killed our attacks in previous games by giving the ball away frequently, but he played decently in the first half today. He still can’t perform like the prime Sanchez though

    2. Wow an aggressive move by Pepe! Atleast he did something now😂😂
      Jokes aside he had two good moments but equally bad moments…

  25. Leeds were very wasteful. If arsenal were a good team, I would say Leeds may get punished for losing so many chances.

    But the current arsenal team and set -up can only secure a point by miracle in this game.
    There is no quality in this team, just a bunch of over payed average boys.

  26. Just remember it wasn’t that long ago that most of you said you didn’t care if it was ugly football just as long as we won…this is exactly what you deserve when you utter those ridiculous words…it’s one thing to win ugly against a “better” team, it’s a totally different thing when you play like everyone is Bayern Munich…we will never be good enough defensively, with this particular squad, so to think we’re going to challenge for anything with this brand of negative football is absolutely ludicrous

  27. Y’all asking for Auba through the middle ..Hope y’all enjoying the view…And remember it’s only Leeds..

    1. I believe Willock was tasked to hold the ball off for Aubameyang. They haven’t been partners in the front for a long time, so it will take a while to build the understanding

  28. It’s like watching a horror film – you know what’s going to happen, and it’s not going to be good. So you cannot watch. Any reason why Saka isn’t on?

  29. why are you guys blaming our players for this. Arteta is the only to blame today, our midfield is so deep leaving our attackers isolated and outnumbered.

  30. This is the worst Arsenal team I have seen in a long time. Keep playing like this and we will be battling relegation.🙄🙄🙄 It will be a miracle if we survive the second half !!

  31. We were outplayed by them in the 1st half. They demonstrated how chances can be created from good movement and quick interplays. Their quick one-twos and overlapping runs are dangerous

  32. Did anyone else watch pepe in ligue 1? He played like vardy so much pace and power in behind.
    Yes the pl is different but I dont get it, he looks to me a player with a weak/soft temperament. Sometimes you just want to see someone get angry!
    Keep playing like this and the fans wont give the ball back to Bellerin at a throw in, (remember?)
    Oh yes no fans!
    I reckon something is going on behind the scenes at Arsenal atm probably relating to Ozil or a training ground scuffle.

    1. Pepe should be sacked I hope the clown never plays for arsenal again. I hope arteta has the bollocks to kick that dick out of the club

      1. I can’t believe he did that…. we were up against it anyway, but 10 men against Leeds? Oh come on, we’re screwed….

  33. The messed up season break shows against younger sides we look like a team of old men, weve got to have one of the oldest average ages when the usual side is fielded.

  34. Truth is, this formation isn’t compact enough, players are too far apart no one is helping another, many players seems isolated. We need to play to Pepe strength. Whenever he has the ball let ateast one midfield join him and the striker not all over the pplace

    1. Shouldn’t start an idiot who keeps giving the ball away and killing our attacks in many matches before this one

  35. Well we may as well all line up on the goal line and try and hold out for a 0.0 now, pepe you twat!!

    1. Pepe has covered for him this week. But next week . . . Praying Saka is not going to be a long time absentee.

  36. Was planning to give arteta til end of year but I don’t see the point … he is clearly clueless and his record is clearly worse than emery at this point … talk of a team spirit is utter bs and he needed to cull over the summer and failed … time to get in the blower to big sam!!!

      1. On a serious note ,there was a lot of falling over for the surface .
        But that was inexcusable what he did ,we need the 3 points and he fcked us over doing sh1t like that

        1. Yeah it was lashing down…
          Alioski made a meal of it, but what an idiotic thing to do!! And to think I wanted him to play!!! 🙄

  37. I just can’t imagine what could have happen if we would have losse man against City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Leicester, Aston Villa

  38. I have been telling this about Pepe since the beginning. I’ll reiterate. He is our worst transfer business of the decade (and that says a lot).

    And then there were people who actually believe that he should be given a run of games. He is one of the most unintelligent player I have ever seen player in our shirt. Tbh at this point I’ll take Iwobi back. Pepe makes Iwobi look like a chicken with a head!

    And as for the match, it is a new formation. Players don’t understand it yet. The midfield has been a disaster. And i dont think any manager in the world can win with this bunch of losers. Lets just curb our expectations for this season. We need 2 transfer windows to make things right.

    I still trust Arteta to make things right. Just not yet!

  39. Now what MA will do with Pépé??
    Guendozi reacted same way last season against Brighton and after that Guendozi was frozen out..
    What he will do with Pépé??

  40. Also I’ve been thinking for a while we need to play AMN.
    I never forget the game against MU he bossed the middle of the park such that pogba congratulated him at the end. Hes at least got some fight and workmate to him.

    Rosicky, cazorla, ramsey, ozil, (trying hard) those were the days.

    We need a verrati type player.

  41. This team just looks flat and afraid to to exress themselves. Xhaka is killing any attack. He’s not comitted to tackles!?

  42. It seems Pépé hasn’t learn anything from pep or pep is also clueless coach who just wants big signings to win..

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