Preview: Leeds United vs Arsenal | OneFootball

It Is back to West Yorkshire for Leeds United, whose two-month momentum and brilliant home form will face their toughest test yet on Saturday, as Premier League leaders Arsenal make the trip to Elland Road.

On Monday, Leeds earned a hard-fought point on Merseyside against an Everton side pushing for Europe. The Whites dominated the first half, scoring through a well-worked move as James Justin slotted home from an Anton Stach cross.

United were forced to settle for the draw, however, as Everton pulled a goal back late on thanks to Thierno Barry. Though the Whites had chances to win it, including from goalscorer Justin who nearly grabbed a second of the evening and debutant Facundo Buonanotte, the match ended all square.

The young Argentine joined on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion until the end of the 2025/26 campaign, and already has over 125 first-team appearances to his name across the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Europa League.

Leeds have now taken points from four of their last five away games and have looked even brighter at home. Two weeks ago, their thrilling 1-0 win over Fulham, delivered thanks to a late Lukas Nmecha goal, marked their third victory in five home games. In December, it was Chelsea and Crystal Palace who were put to the sword at Elland Road.

Leeds are currently 16th in the table after the first 23 matches and now face the side against which they fell to defeat against on the second matchday of the season.

The Gunners currently sit first in the Premier League. After years of title near-misses, Mikel Arteta’s men are aiming for their first top-flight trophy since 2005. Though they face tough challenges from Manchester City and Aston Villa, Arsenal are in pole position with a lead of four points at this stage.

During the week, the North London outfit made it a perfect eight wins from eight in the UEFA Champions League Group Phase, topping the standings after a 3-2 triumph over FC Kairat.

However, the visitors are not invincible: they are winless in their last three in the Premier League, with draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and a dramatic loss to Manchester United last weekend.

Over the years, there have been a number of memorable encounters between the two sides. Leeds and Arsenal have faced each other 128 times, with the Whites winning 41 and drawing 33 of those matches.

Notably, Leeds have twice before thwarted Arsenal’s Premier League title ambitions. In 1999, an 86th-minute goal from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink earned all three points for the Whites at Elland Road as the Gunners came up just short of first.

Four years later, Mark Viduka delivered a thrilling 3-2 victory in the 88th minute at Highbury, as United once more foiled the opposition’s Premier League dream.

Action from Elland Road gets underway at 3pm and you can follow all the action across leedsunited.com, as well as on LUTV.

We’ve met before:

Team news:

Ahead of the meeting, Farke confirmed Jaka Bijol still remains on the sidelines with injury. He will likely be joined by Lukas Nmecha, who picked up a hamstring strain in the warm-up against Everton.

There was more positive news on Gabriel Gudmundsson and Daniel James, with the boss explaining the defender has a chance to be involved and the Wales international is back in contention for selection.

Celebrating the Leeds United Foundation!

Leeds United will be celebrating the incredible work of the Leeds United Foundation on Saturday as we take on Arsenal in the Premier League, under the theme Breaking Down Barriers.

Through the power of football, the Leeds United Foundation aims to enhance the lives of people across our region and beyond, through initiatives and projects that are focused on education, sport participation, and health and wellbeing.

How to follow:

Monthly audio subscribers around the world can listen to every minute of Saturday’s fixture LIVE on LUTV. Bryn Law will be joined by Tony Dorigo on commentary. Pre-match build up begins at 2:30pm with Michael Bridges and Stuart Dallas in the studio!

Welcome Facundo!

Important supporter information:

Discriminatory language or chanting, including tragedy chanting, is not acceptable, and you could be breaking the law. The club condemns this behaviour and has a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination abuse of all kinds.

To report an incident, text LEEDS along with any relevant information including ticket details, your name and description of an incident to 60006. You will then receive an automated response which means that your report has been logged and will then be looked into.

Tough measures and sanctions are in place across all English football leagues to tackle dangerous and illegal behaviours within football grounds, and this involves but is not limited to, discriminatory behaviour, tragedy chanting, fans entering the pitch, the use of pyros and throwing objects.

More supporter information can be found HERE.

The view from inside the camp:

Speaking exclusively to Premier League Productions, midfielder Ilia Gruev said: “We know that it is really tough to play at Elland Road with the fans and the atmosphere. So, we will give our best, we will play aggressive and try to win the points at home.

“It is going to be an intense game. I think it is important to play aggressive and press often because I think if you only stay deeper and wait the whole time, they have too much quality. So, you have to find your moments.

“There are going to be periods where we have to suffer a little bit and not concede a goal. But then we need to find our moments to take the crowd with us. We know our results at home, we know how tough it is to play at our place, so we want to show this again.”

Read the full interview HERE.

What has Daniel Farke said ahead of the match?

League position:

Top scorer:

Officials