EPL MD 9: 10-man Arsenal grabs a point at Elland Road; Leeds United 0 - 0 Arsenal

Referee Antony Taylor showed Pepe the Red card for head butting Alioski in the second half

EPL MD 9: 10-man Arsenal grabs a point at Elland Road; Leeds United 0 - 0 Arsenal
Leeds forward Rodrigo hits the crossbar with a shot from range

Arsenal collected a point away from home in their goalless drawn game against Leeds at the Elland Road on Sunday.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side despite their dominance and numerical advantage after Pepe’s red card managed four shots on target although they did hit the woodwork three times. 

Kalvin Phillips returned from a month’s absence as Raphinha was handed his first Premier League start after joining from Rennes earlier this season. 

Arteta made four changes from the side that lost to Aston Villa refreshing his attack by handing a first Premier League start of the season to Joe Willock. Nicholas Pepe was also in the squad for his second league start of the season while Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos are the two in midfield.

There was a lot of energy in midfield from both teams as the tempo kept cooking at the blast of the referee’s whistle. Both teams were involved in registering shots outside the yard box but posed not much of a threat for the opposition.

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Leeds made a super move in the 13-minute carving Arsenal down the left. Harrison and Alioski linked beautifully to get the full-back to the by-line. Bamford checked his run and received the pullback but his toe-poked effort lacked power before Leno got behind it.

Meslier almost gets caught out after Pepe whipped his left foot around the ball although it ended up being an effort on goal.

Leeds started to turn the screw down the right been better during this opening half-hour after a couple of good opportunities. The Gunners progressively out turned Leeds and actually made far more high-intensity sprints than the home side to end the first half.

Nicolas Pepe was sent off 7-minutes into the second half for head-butting Alioski. Saka was then brought on to replace Willock with Leeds haven't actually reacted too well having a man advantage.

The Gunner almost opened the scores after Bellerin broke from right back in the 84-minute and played a brilliant through ball to release Saka in on goal. Meslier did brilliantly to stay on his feet and he forced Saka wide before making a smart block to deny the youngster.

Leeds responded three minutes later when Bamford's hit the post. He rose above Holding to head towards the far corner, but the ball rebounded off the upright.

Raphinha later hit the far post and got a shot away after seeming to beat Leno at his near post.

The Gunners held on for a point after the 90 minutes.