LONDON, England
Jurriën Timber, Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyökeres all scored for Arsenal as they blew away newly promoted Leeds United 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening.
However, despite being able to parade new signing Eberechi Eze in front of their fans before kick-off, there were also some negatives for Mikel Arteta, as the influential duo of Saka and captain Martin Ødegaard were both forced off injured.
That’ll be a worry ahead of next weekend’s trip to Anfield to face reigning champions Liverpool.
While their 1-0 victory on the opening matchday against Manchester United was unconvincing to some, they looked nowhere near as heavy-legged in this rout, with another two of their goals coming following corner kicks.
Arsenal opened the scoring with one of those. Declan Rice swung in his corner and Timber headed the ball into the back of the net from inside the six-yard box.
Funnily enough, all three of Timber’s for Arsenal have been headers assisted by Rice.
Saka doubled their lead in first half added time, with his powerful strike from an angle proving too fast for Leeds’ goalkeeper Lucas Perri to react quickly enough to save.
That goal meant that the England forward has scored in Arsenal’s opening home league game in each of the last three seasons (against Nottingham Forest in 2023-24, versus Wolves in 2024-25).
It was also the 99th Premier League goal that Saka has been involved in (54 goals, 45 assists), needing just one more to become the seventh youngest to reach the landmark in the competition.
Following his injury in the second half, however, he may have to wait a while for a chance to hit the century.
The fact that Arsenal had won each of their previous 38 league games after leading by two or more goals at half-time meant that a Leeds United comeback was unlikely, but that became near impossible when Gyökeres opened his Premier League account three minutes into the second half.
The Swedish striker, who netted 97 goals in 102 games for previous club Sporting CP before his summer move to the London club, endured a difficult debut at Old Trafford versus Manchester United last weekend.
His goal in this match came following a trademark dribble in from the left flank, before he placed a strike inside the near post with what was only his second shot in the competition.
Timber doubled his goal tally in the game in the 56th minute, with yet another goal coming from an Arsenal corner.
The Gunners have now scored 33 goals from corners in the Premier League since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, at least 13 more than any other team (Liverpool – 20).
Already 4-0 up and having the chance to rest some players, Arteta introduced 15-year-old Max Dowman in the 64th minute for his Premier League debut, who became the second youngest player to appear in the competition.
Only teammate Ethan Nwaneri (15y 181d) debuted at a younger age, while he and Dowman are two of only three players to play in the Premier League aged under 16, along with Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga (15y 271d).
Dowman made an impact in his cameo, winning a penalty in added time, which was converted by Gyökeres for his second goal of the evening to complete the scoring, and a miserable day for Leeds United
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