Arsenal suffer their own outage but survive chaotic Leeds onslaught
Arsenal's Gabriel (left) lashes out at Leeds United's Patrick Bamford during the Premier League match at Elland Road, Leeds. Picture Tim Goode/PA Wire.
THE lights went out at Elland Road - but they continue to burn bright for Arsenal's unlikely Premier League title tilt.
A power cut led to a frustrating delay for Mikel Arteta's men - but they made up for lost time thanks to Bukayo Saka's fourth goal in three games to post their best start to a league campaign for 118 years.
But they were left hugely relieved after a dramatic tale of two penalties - firstly when Patrick Bamford's costly miss halted Leeds' second-half momentum.
Then deep into stoppage time referee Chris Kavanagh controversially reversed his initial decision to point to the spot as Gabriel Magalhaes earned a red card for kicking out at the England forward, instead reprieving the Arsenal defender who had been fouled by Bamford, to ensure the Gunners held on for a ninth win in 10 games to extend their advantage over Manchester City at the summit.
In farcical scenes the teams were taken off for almost 40 minutes when a momentary outage just seconds after kick-off caused the match officials to lose their communications systems and all contact with VAR and goal-line technology in an embarrassing episode for Leeds and the Premier League.
Jesse Marsch's men were straight at it from the belated restart as Pascal Struijk forced a fine save from Aaron Ramsdale with a scrambled close-range effort from a corner.
However, despite posing more of a threat after the introduction of Bamford for the second half, Leeds remain without a league win for almost two months since beating Chelsea at the end of August. To rub salt into the wounds, they were complicit in Arsenal's 35th-minute winner.
Rodrigo's nonsensical crossfield pass from inside the Leeds half landed invitingly not for a team-mate, but for Saka to swiftly exchange passes with Martin Odegaard before the England international comprehensively beat Ilan Meslier with a powerful right-foot finish from a narrow angle.
It was a shot the Leeds goalkeeper really ought to have saved as he inexplicably ducked out of the way at his near post. The imposing Frenchman stands 6ft 6in but provided a somewhat considerably lesser barrier in conceding the goal.
Bamford could have scored four within 25 minutes of his half-time introduction - but drew a blank to stretch his 10-month goal drought, most crucially when firing a 64th-minute penalty wide of Stockdale's left-hand post after Kavanagh staged his first major u-turn following his initial reluctance to award a handball against William Saliba as the Arsenal defender tussled with Marc Roca for Jack Harrison's cross into the box.
Bamford had already seen a close-range effort ruled out after his push on Gabriel, while Stockdale underlined an outstanding display by blocking two one-on-ones with the rejuvenated Leeds striker.
Stockdale produced another fine save to thwart Brenden Aaronson before substitute Crysencio Summerville put another chance to level over the bar as the visitors' increasingly desperate rearguard action scrambled a hard-earned clean sheet to see them equal Newcastle's best start to a Premier League campaign with 27 points from a possible 30.
As talk of the title inevitably gathers pace, Arteta will need little reminding as to the fate of Kevin Keegan's side 27 years ago, who despite their impressive opening were eventually overhauled by Manchester United to trail in second to Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
Meslier 6; Kristensen 6, Koch 6, Cooper 6, Struijk 5; Adams 7, Roca 7 (Summerville 84, 5); Sinisterra 7 (Gelhardt 88, 6), Harrison 6 (Klich 76, 6), Aaronson; 7 Rodrigo 4 (Bamford 46, 6).
None
Ramsdale 9; White 7 (Tierney 76, 6), Saliba 6, Gabriel Magalhaes 6, Tomiyasu 7; Partey 6, Xhaka 6; Saka 8 (Holding 82, 6), Odegaard 7 (Vieira 73, 6), Gabriel Martinelli 7; Gabriel Jesus 6 (Nketiah 82, 6).
Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes.
Chris Kavanagh
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
