Mikel Arteta reveals Arsenal had ‘concerning few days’ in build-up to Leeds win

Mikel Arteta revealed Arsenal had a “concerning few days” in the build-up to their big win over Leeds.

The Gunners won 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium to match Manchester City’s result earlier in the day against Liverpool, keeping themselves top of the Premier League table with an eight-point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s side.

City do still have a game in hand, and will host Arsenal at the Etihad later this month, but the Gunners continue to impress as they picked up from where they left off before the international break to make it seven League wins in a row.

Bukayo Saka was named on the bench having missed training with illness, the first time he has not started a League game this season, and Arteta hinted that there were other issues his side had to contend with too.

“We had a few things going on with some individuals,” the Arsenal boss told BBC Sport.

“It has been a concerning few days because we could not decide until this morning if some players would be available and the line-up. After an international break you do not know if they are in the frame of mind to come back and do the things necessary to win this league. I am really happy with the performance.

“They made it tricky for us. We lost the ball in bad areas to a team that put four really fast players than run in transitions. After, we took control of the game and we’re really good in the boxes today.”

Gabriel Jesus scored twice on his first League start since the World Cup, his first goals since October, while Ben White and Granit Xhaka also got on the scoresheet as Arsenal ran away with it after the break.

The return of Jesus is timely for the Gunners heading into the title-run in, and his manager was delighted to see him back on the scoresheet.

“I am so happy for him after all the work from him and the staff throughout the last five months,” Arteta said. “Today, he got rewarded for that.”