Mikel Arteta gets exactly what Arsenal needed to secure biggest Premier League title boost yet

Arsenal’s four-goal win over Leeds United was the perfect response after their defeat at home to Manchester United. When the pressure arrived, they had an answer

If you could dream up the perfect response after Arsenal were beaten by Manchester United, scoring four and keeping a clean sheet on the road, especially at a place like Leeds, would be as close to it as you could get. Naturally, that would be without an injury suffered by Bukayo Saka, but we’ll get to that.

While some might call Arsenal boring, the reality is that Mikel Arteta has so far created a side best suited to accumulating the most points in this iteration of the Premier League. Cracking sides open with their threat from set-pieces and then finishing the job from open play.

It might not get lauded in the way sides of old did, but frankly, the Gunners will not care. Declan Rice described every single game as a “cup final”, and on his 300th Premier League appearance, the midfielder helped to secure the most important three points of the season so far.

Kai Havertz was back in the starting line-up for the first time in the league since February 2, 2025, when he scored and assisted against Manchester City in a famous 5-1 win. When the club travelled to a Dubai warm-weather training camp, he suffered a significant hamstring injury, ending his season.

Facing adversity, fighting his way back, to then getting injured again at the start of the current campaign. That is a stern test for any player, but his goal contributions against Kairat in midweek and then his battling display at Leeds are a testament to the German.

Arteta explained that he picked the forward based more so on the opponent. And in fairness, his reasoning was vindicated by the added aerial assuredness and physical presence Havertz provided.

“Because of the type of game that I expected as well, and how aggressive and direct they’ve been recently,” he said. “And I believed that the game was going to allow us more space and the temperature would come down in the second or third part of the game, and that’s why we could have changed the game with different qualities in the team.”

Martin Odegaard had to come off the bench, and in a week where he has seen plenty of talk outside and, wrongfully, faith and trust from supporters lost, he responded in the best way. Involved in the third goal and then set up Gabriel Jesus for the fourth.

So happy, so happy the way he reacted,” Arteta said in response to a question from football.london on the midfielder’s performance. “But in general, the team, and obviously certain individuals, it’s normal. The opinion, the noise is part of that.

“What we can control is what we can do, how much we want it, and trying to get the best out of yourself and the team in every moment. The rest is not possible, and we’ll have to be judged on that, because there’s nothing else that we can do apart from giving our best.”

Viktor Gyokeres, too, after missing a big chance, stretched to reach another substitute, Gabriel Martinelli’s cross and score. After a strange performance midweek, the Swede needed that and moves ahead of ‘own goal’ into the top spot of the Gunners’ top league goalscorers.

Two goals in two for the Swede, this needs to be a platform he continues to build momentum from. Chelsea in midweek, another potential start, and should he send Arsenal to Wembley Stadium it could dramatically change the current discussion surrounding him.

The low was, of course, the loss of Saka. This is what the Arsenal boss had to say on the matter.

“So in the warm-up, he had a little niggle, he wasn’t comfortable to start the game, so immediately we made a decision to make that change and bring Noni in,” Arteta said. “And he was ready, because you cannot do that in two minutes.

“The way he prepares, the way he’s waiting for opportunity, I think he paid off today because he really impacted the team.”

The reason is relentless. Chelsea in midweek, Premier League fixtures coming thick and fast, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League knockout rounds to follow, losing Saka for an extended period would be damaging.

It was important Noni Madueke stepped up, but he is yet to score in the Premier League. Arteta will speak to the press on Monday ahead of the Chelsea match, where we hope there will be updates to come on Saka and Mikel Merino, who also missed the match due to a foot problem.