Regardless of Arsenal's fate in the Premier League title race this season, they still want to win in their own way. After the dramatic 2-3 defeat to Manchester United last weekend, most public opinion focused on a familiar question. That is, do the "Gunners" need to do something different to touch their first domestic title since 2004?
Mikel Arteta revealed about a frank meeting taking place the very next day, where the whole team committed to "living and playing with joy, courage and belief that they will win".
Pushing captain Martin Odegaard to the bench in the away match to Elland Road was like a signal of change. But in the end, Arsenal won 4-0 against Leeds with a very Arsenal-like performance under Arteta. That was controlling the game, taking advantage of dead balls and launching decisive attacks.
2 goals came directly from corner kicks, plus Viktor Gyokeres' close-range finish and Gabriel Jesus' late goal helped Arsenal not only regain the feeling of victory but also widen the lead gap to 7 points.
The match was not exactly fun in the sense of satisfying eyes, because Arsenal's playing style was still somewhat stereotypical. But that was Arsenal's most effective - suffocating Leeds and the enthusiastic atmosphere at Elland Road with control, which only almost faltered at the beginning of the second half when the home team rose up.
More importantly, this is the true Gunners when they are not shy, not lacking confidence. That is also how Arteta believes that his team can win the championship by imposing the game, controlling the ball and maximizing set pieces.
That combination is an impressive response after a 3-match winless streak. And it is not surprising that Arteta showed satisfaction.
The fighting spirit is very good. I have said, play with excitement, enjoy your current position and believe in what you are doing, in your abilities and that we can defeat any opponent.
We did it. And then, you have to show qualities to do it in this tournament. And today we have performed very well in many different ways" - the Spanish captain said.
Leeds only launched 3 shots throughout the match and achieved an expected goal score of 0.15 - one of the lowest numbers that Arsenal has ever made the opponent create in all competitions this season. That defensive foundation, which brought them to the top early, is clearly shown at Elland Road.
That ability to control is what we want. There is always an opponent in front of us who will challenge that and you have to perform accurate, stable balls if you don't want to be punished. This is really impressive, because they are a strong team and we did it" - Arteta added.
Leeds coach Daniel Farke also admitted: "They played very fiercely from the first to the last second. Whatever we did, they always had an answer. We really couldn't create any chances".
Although the cohesion in the attacking front still needs time to become smoother, this victory is enough for Arsenal to cool down according to the message Arteta conveyed in the meeting at the beginning of the week.
