Nketiah the hero but Arsenal labour to crucial win in top four race
Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah celebrates after scoring during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Leeds United at the Emirates Stadium, in London Sunday, May 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
EDDIE NKETIAH scored twice to send Arsenal back into the Premier League top four and four clear points of Tottenham ahead of Thursday's eagerly-anticipated North London derby.
Arsenal can theoretically afford to lose that match and still take the final Champions League qualification place with just three fixtures remaining for each side.
Nketiah was again the unlikely hero in a win they nearly threw away as ten-man Leeds staged a remarkable late comeback.
The 22-year-old south Londoner was gifted his and Arsenal's dream start after five minutes when Leeds keeper Illan Meslier miscontrolled and hesitated over a straightforward back pass from Luke Ayling.
Leeds were simply overwhelmed by Arsenal's voracious appetite to win the ball and get it forward and conceded a second just five minutes later. Ayling's right of the defence was again exposed by Gabriel Martinelli's dribbling skills as the Brazil forward pulled the ball back for Nketiah to side foot home as he fell to his back.
The Arsenal striker, who is out of contract this summer, has now scored four goals in four games after his double in the win at Chelsea ended a three-game losing run and sparked this run of four wins in a row.
Leeds were all over the place as Nketiah went within inches of scoring a 17-minute hat-trick when he only just failed to convert yet another Martinelli cross.
Ten minutes later and Leeds captain Ayling showed just how badly he and his side had lost the plot. The former Arsenal youth prospect flew two-footed at Martinelli, taking ball and player with force. Referee Chris Kavanagh only switched his yellow card for a red after the VAR convinced him to look again.
Striker Raphinha was booked for relentlessly protesting and Leeds ended the first half with more red cards (one) and yellow cards (two) than shots on or off target (0). Another unwanted stat against their name was the 96 bookings for the season – beating the Premier League's all-time high by two yellow cards.
The extremely impressive Martin Odegaard went even closer to adding a third but his strike was cleared off the line by an acrobatic overhead volley by Diego Llorente.
Jesse Marsch sent on Lewis Bate for the start of the second half, but Arsenal were just as dominant. They should have doubled their lead and more as chances came and went for Granit Xhaka and Martinelli.
The Leeds fans had packed out the away end on what could be their penultimate Premier League away day for a season or so. They showed no desire to give up as they waved their white t-shirts above their heads in recognition of injured winger Stuart Dallas.
The slightly ironic gallows humour changed to genuine joy and hope when Llorente scored in the 66th minute and Arsenal conceded from a corner for the first time all season.
Leeds were in the relegation zone now but they looked alive and Arsenal as nervous as their suddenly silent supporters.
Arsenal conceded a corner in the last minute of normal time and Meslier went up to try and complete the transformation from zero to hero only for Nketiah to head clear the danger. Meslier even went up again in the three minutes on at the end, but it was too little too late as the best team won – just!
Ramsdale 6, Tomiyasu 6, Holding 7, Gabriel 6, Cedric 5, Elneny 6, Xhaka 7, Odegaard 8, Saka 6 (Pepe 68), Martinelli 7 (Smith Rowe 78), Nketiah 7.
Leno, Tavares, Sambi Lokonga, Oulad M'hand, Swanson, Patino
Meslier 4, Ayling 0, Koch 5, Llorente 6, Firpo 4, Phillips 6, Klich 5 (Bate 45), Harrison 6, James 6, Raphinha 4 (Rodrigo 60), Gelhardt 6 (Struijk 29).
Klaesson, Hjelde, Cresswell, Greenwood, Shackleton, Gray
Chris Kavanagh 5
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