Report: Arsenal 5-0 Leeds United

Viktor Gyokores marked his home debut with a brace as we ran riot against Leeds United to make it two wins from two at the start of the Premier League campaign.

We found ourselves 2-0 ahead at the break thanks to a Jurrien Timber header and Bukayo Saka’s injury-time strike which took the game away from the visitors, and not long after the restart Gyokeres showed his pace and power to get himself off the mark in style.

Timber then added his second and our fourth of the afternoon as our set-piece prowess came to the fore again, before in stoppage-time 15-year-old debutant Max Dowman won a penalty which Gyokeres hammered home.

While Mikel Arteta would have been disappointed to see Martin Odegaard and Saka depart through injury, our impressive attacking display will have delighted him, especially with Eberechi Eze waiting in the wings.

Two-up at the break

The opening home game of the season is always a vibrant and colourful affair with a packed house excited to see their heroes in action, but the atmosphere was only boosted pre-match when Eze was presented to the crowd for the first time, moments after being announced as a Gunner.

Roared on by a full house, we started well with Odegaard in the thick of the action on his 200th Arsenal appearance and he shot into the side netting early on, before some excellent pressing from a Leeds goal-kick led to Martin Zubimendi nudging the ball into Gyokeres’ path, but the striker stabbed wide.

Having won the man of the match award in our win at Manchester United six days earlier, David Raya was again required to be on top form in the 20th minute when he instinctively pushed over a Pascal Struijk header from the visitors’ first corner of the evening.

However, on 34 minutes we had our first opportunity from a flag kick, and yet again we made it count. Declan Rice whipped it into a crowded box and Timber watched it all the way before guiding the delivery into the far corner, leaving Lucas Perri in the Whites goal with no chance.

From that point onwards, Leeds’ 14-game wait for a win on our turf never looked like ending on this particular day, even when Odegaard’s double-century ended prematurely as he was forced off with a shoulder problem. Saka took over the captaincy duties - and in first half stoppage-time he led by example by grabbing our second.

Once again our pressing caused Leeds issues and Rice nicked the ball off a defender, allowing Zubimendi to slip it to Timber. He then played a precise pass into the path of Saka, who thrashed the ball past a static Perri to get off the mark for the campaign and hand us a nice cushion going into the break.

Gyokeres’ golden moment

The feel-good factor was bouncing around Emirates Stadium during half-time, and it reached new heights two minutes after the restart when the moment everyone inside our home wanted to see happened.

Riccardo Calafiori lofted a ball into the left channel for Gyokeres to latch on to, and he began to charge towards the box. Struijk backed off and allowed him into the area, and after nudging the ball past the Leeds defender he arrowed it into the bottom corner to open his Gunners account in style.

There was another injury blow though when Saka pulled up heading towards goal and was forced off on 52 minutes, but that disappointment was tempered somewhat when we grabbed another goal three minutes later.

Rice sent another corner into the box and Timber saw his header blocked, but after Leeds failed to clear, the Dutchman had a second chance to score and duly nudged the ball over the line to complete an unlikely brace, with a VAR check confirming the decision.

Dowman debuts

With the result in the bag, Mikel Arteta opted to hand Max Dowman his first-team debut aged 15 years and 235 days old, becoming the third youngest player in Premier League history after Nwaneri and Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga.

The winger showed no sign of nerves and he twice went close to getting on the scoresheet firstly skillfully collecting a pass on the right flank, dribbling inside and letting fly but saw the ball dip into the North Bank, and then when a free-kick bounced into his path, he fizzed it back toward goal and again was just off target.

However, in stoppage-time, Dowman’s pace and trickery saw him draw a foul from Anton Stach and Jarred Gillett pointed to the spot, allowing Gyokeres to power home the penalty to cap a fine evening’s work.

The winning margin put us top of the fledgling league table, and while it matters little in August, it means we head to Anfield next weekend to face the reigning champions Liverpool with plenty of wind in our sails.

FACTS AND STATS

Jurrien Timber became only the second Arsenal defender to register 3+ goal involvements in a Premier League match, with Nacho Monreal the other, whilst he is the first defender to both score and assist in the same Premier League match for us since Cedric Soares against Everton in May 2022.

Max Dowman (15y 235d) became just the third player to appear in a Premier League game before turning 16 years old after teammate Ethan Nwaneri v Brentford in September 2022 (15y 181d) and Jeremy Monga for Leicester City v Newcastle United in April (15y 271d).

Leeds United have now lost each of their last six away matches in the Premier League, their longest losing run on the road in the top-flight since a run of nine between October 1992 and February 1993 under Howard Wilkinson.

We are now unbeaten in our last 43 Premier League home games against newly promoted sides, equalling the competition's record set by Chelsea (also 43 games between November 2001-November 2015).

Viktor Gyokeres scored his first Premier League goal with what was just his second shot in the competition, whilst his opener was his first goal in English football since netting for Coventry City against Birmingham City in the Championship in April 2023.

Gyokeres became just the second player to net 2+ goals on his home Premier League debut for us after Gabriel Jesus vs Leicester in August 2022.

Since the beginning of last season, we have scored 14 goals in the Premier League courtesy of defenders, the outright most of any team in the competition during this period.

Since the beginning of 2023/24, we have scored 33 league goals from corners, 10 more than any other team across Europe's big five leagues and 13 more than any other Premier League team across this period.

Bukayo Saka has scored in our opening home league game in each of the last three seasons (vs Nottingham Forest in 2023/24, vs Wolves in 2024/25 and today against Leeds).

What's next

We're back in action next Sunday when we head to Anfield to take on the reigning champions Liverpool, before heading into the first international break of 2025/26.

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