Arteta ‘begged’ for rule ‘change’ but Arsenal know to alter nothing despite Manchester United setback | OneFootball

If this is the ‘fun boat’ Mikel Arteta was referring to, it moored at Elland Road with a crashing wave of predictability.

Arsenal were never going to change anything fundamental in their approach as a direct response to the Manchester United defeat. As the Premier League leaders with a perfect Champions League record, a first-leg advantage in a Carabao Cup semi-final and a plum FA Cup fourth-round draw, they never had to.

Arteta felt a slight shift in their collective mentality was necessary, but having successfully blocked out the external noise all season to reach the point of vaguely justified Quadruple chat heading into February, there was no need for tactical reactionism.

It might satisfy a punditocracy and those neutrals and rivals ultimately willing Arsenal on to fail, but it would not serve the Gunners positively in any way.

Arteta’s repurposing of this mission to end a 22-year odyssey back to the Premier League title as something for players and supporters to “enjoy” was all Arsenal needed, as Leeds will attest.

Arsenal’s two biggest wins of the Premier League season so far are Leeds’ two heaviest defeats. The 5-0 at the Emirates in August was stark but this 4-0 thrashing was arguably more clear-cut, and certainly more impressive from the visitors.

And while it was built on those crushingly familiar foundations of goals from corners – in the second case almost quite literally – the confidence which flowed through a team so clearly uninhibited by that ‘fear of failure’ should quieten the noise again.

The loss of Bukayo Saka to an injury in the warm-up would have caused previous Arsenal teams to spontaneously collapse in on itself. This versatile, robust iteration of absurd depth simply called up a £48.5m forward in his place to create a two-goal first-half advantage.

Martin Zubimendi’s clever movement and fine flicked header gave Noni Madueke his first Premier League assist since December. Of 2024. Then ten minutes later a Madueke corner was punched into his own net by Karl Darlow under pressure from team-mate Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

It should have come as no surprise that Arsenal finally achieved their perfect form: Set Piece assisting Own Goal.

At that stage, 23 and a half games into their dominant season, no Arsenal player had scored more Premier League goals for them this season than the collective efforts of atrocious five-a-side team Darlow, Sam Johnstone, Yerson Mosquera, Georginio Rutter and Lisandro Martinez.

Viktor Gyokeres corrected that midway through the second half, ghosting to the front post to finish a fine Gabriel Martinelli cross and take his personal tally to a mammoth six league goals, half of which have come against Leeds.

And much like Arsenal’s last definable release of the handbrake when they hammered Aston Villa in December, the cherry atop what remains an inedible cake for many was placed by Gabriel Jesus.

That goal to make it 4-0 felt like a specific message: two passes through the lines, some wonderful footwork inside the area and a clinical finish into the bottom corner.

Arsenal can play like this. That they choose not to may infuriate many but when their chosen method to goals and wins is quite plainly more effective, why would they?

Arteta is here to serve only one club. That includes those fans he “encouraged to jump in this boat because it’s going to be fun,” with the sustained rage against their continued focus on set pieces a crucial part of that entertainment.

And it encompasses the players he decided to “beg” the Premier League to expand matchday squads for.

“At the moment there are two or three players who have to be out of the squad. That’s a reality and I cannot change that.” he said before this game. “These are the rules. Hopefully the Premier League next season instead of 18 outfield players they will do 20. I beg them from here, [have it] like it is in the Champions League, because it’s much better to manage the squad, to maintain the value of the players, to maintain the mental health of the players as nobody wants to get out of the squad.”

Mikel Merino was injured but Christian Norgaard and Myles Lewis-Skelly were both left out against Leeds by a manager whose sheer embarrassment of riches in terms of options remains one of his advantages in a race Arsenal have reasserted control over.

It is likely that Arsenal will lose at least one of their remaining 14 Premier League fixtures. It is certain that the wider reaction will be of disproportionate doom-mongering. And it is encouraging for Arteta that his players have followed up all three of their league defeats this season with a win in their very next game. The leaders have exercised their right to reply yet again.