Arsenal is close to tickets to the Champions League

This result helps Arsenal reach 66 points in 35 matches, five points ahead of Tottenham. On May 12, the two teams will face off directly at Tottenham in the match for round 22 of the Premier League. If they win, Arsenal will definitely finish in the top 4, and return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2017-2018 season under the legendary manager Arsene Wenger.

Meanwhile, Leeds dropped to 18th because in the same match, Everton won 2-1 at Leicester. Leeds currently has 34 points, equal to Burnley and one point behind Everton.

At the Emirates Stadium, coach Arteta has only one change compared to the 2-1 win at West Ham on May 1. Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced Nuno Tavares and was pushed to the left-back, while Cedric Soares played on the opposite flank.

Arsenal got off to a dream start when they opened the scoring after 5 minutes. Goalkeeper Illan Meslier was too slow in the penalty area, allowing Eddie Nketiah to kick into an empty net. Five minutes later, the 22-year-old England striker completed a brace with a diagonal kick from Gabriel Martinelli’s cross. Nketiah thus became the second Arsenal player to score twice in the first ten minutes of a Premier League match, after Nwankwo Kanu against Sunderland in October 2002.

In the 27th minute, Arsenal were even better than people, when Luke Ayling received a red card directly after a two-footed challenge to Martinelli. Initially, referee Chris Kavanagh only showed a yellow card to the Leeds right-back, but changed his mind after consulting VAR.

The “Gunners” thus completely controlled the game and created countless opportunities. In the 39th minute, Meslier caught the ball from Martin Odegaard’s free kick, but defender Diego Llorente cleared the ball just before the rush line. From the 55th to the 60th minute, Martinelli had two consecutive shots in the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by Meslier in turn and went wide over the visitors’ goal.

But then, the game suddenly turned around. In the 66th minute, from a corner kick, Junior Firpo headed back to the far corner to let Llorente – in an unaccompanied position – finish close to the wall to shorten the gap for Leeds. This is Leeds’ first shot in this match, and the second time Arsenal have conceded a goal from a corner in the Premier League 2021-2022 season..

Arteta worried, and took turns tossing Nicolas Pepe, Emile Smith-Rowe and Alexandre Lacazette. Arsenal still dominated the ball, but were deadlocked and could not create delicious opportunities. Not only that, the host also experienced the last minutes of heart-pounding, when goalkeeper Meslier joined the attack in two fixed Leeds situations, before celebrating three points when the referee blew the final whistle.

Squad:

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Soares, Xhaka, Elneny, Saka (Pepe 68), Odegaard, Martinelli (Smith-Rowe 78), Nketiah (Lacazette 90).

Leeds: Meslier, Ayling, Koch, Llorente, Firpo, Klich (Bate 46), Phillips, Raphinha (Moreno 60), Gelhardt (Struijk 29), Harrison, James.

Thanh Quy (according to LTV)