It was an occasion that was transcended by someone who did not play but had so much more to chew over from an Arsenal point of view. The club showed off their new signing, Eberechi Eze, parading him beforehand and screening a welcome video for him at half-time.
As the goals flew in to defeat Leeds, the cutaways to him in the stands were inevitable. Eze’s signing has the feel of a coup and not only because Arsenal, in the vernacular of the trade, properly did over Tottenham to land him.
Eze clapped as Jurriën Timber opened the scoring following a corner, Bukayo Saka made it 2-0 and Viktor Gyökeres opened his account for the club with the third. There would be another goal for Timber following another corner; Arsenal’s excellence in this area endures. And another one for Gyökeres from the penalty spot at the very end.
And yet when it was over, it was yet another new boy whose name was on everybody’s lips. Max Dowman got on for his first Arsenal appearance in a competitive game as a 64th minute substitute and the crowd would be singing his name as he made a few smooth and fearless runs with the ball. Remember, Dowman is just 15. He has not even started Year 11 at school yet.
Playing on the right wing, Dowman also flashed a shot high from the edge of the area and it was him winning the penalty at the death, going down after the tiniest of touches from Anton Stach. Is Dowman taking GCSE drama? The whiff of something untoward removed very little of the shine from his performance.
It was a procession after Timber’s first goal on 34 minutes; Leeds started stoutly only to be swatted aside. But the celebratory air was not total. Far from it. Mikel Arteta had not been able to select Ben White because of an injury, with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and another new signing, Christian Nørgaard, also out. He would lose the captain, Martin Ødegaard, and Saka to further problems, which is a long way from being ideal when Arsenal’s next game is at Liverpool next Sunday.
The buildup had been dominated by Eze, taking in the detail about how his street art mural on the Hornsey Road outside the ground had been defaced, white paint thrown at it – presumably by a Spurs fan. Arsenal confirmed Eze’s signing 30 minutes before kick-off for £60m plus add-ons. And then there he was, strolling out onto the pitch, wearing a huge smile and his new No 10 shirt, pressing the badge to his heart. The ovation was really something.
Arteta has described his squad, after its £250m summer refit, as the most complete he has had; he has options galore. It feels most likely that Eze will slot in off the left wing. Here, Arteta gave another new boy, Noni Madueke, the role at the outset and the battle lines were drawn early, Arsenal stepping onto the front foot, trying to get something going. Daniel Farke had promised not to park the bus but the priority for Leeds was to be compact and physical.
Photograph: John Walton/PA
The spotlight picked out Gyökeres, too, after his laboured debut in the 1-0 win at Manchester United last Sunday. The initial signs were not promising. The centre-forward struggled to escape the shackles of various Leeds defenders and when he did – in the 16th minute, after a disastrous attempt by the visitors to play out from the back – he swiped a first time shot wide when well placed. He had more time than he imagined. The chance was created when Martín Zubimendi pounced on Stach, who had been played into trouble by Pascal Struijk.
The game might have been shaped differently had David Raya not repelled a meaty Struijk header on 20 minutes following a Leeds corner and it was one at the other end that settled Arsenal. Declan Rice whipped it over and Timber, part of a platoon of red shirts that moved inside from beyond the far post, glanced past Lucas Perri.
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Arsenal lost Ødegaard towards the end of the first half – he had needed treatment earlier on after falling awkwardly on a shoulder and he could not shake the discomfort – but there was better news for his team before the break. Ilia Gruev was pressured by Rice into a loose pass and Arsenal worked it quickly and smartly to Saka via Zubimendi and Timber. The finish was smashed above Perri’s shoulder from an angle on the right.
Gyökeres kept going and he showed what he can do after the restart, tearing up the left onto a high ball from Riccardo Calafiori. Finally, Gyökeres had some space and he sliced inside Struijk and away from a Jayden Bogle tackle before banging a low shot into the near corner. Relief was prominent among the emotions as he performed his mask celebration.
Arsenal would feel another setback when Saka sat down on the turf in the 51st minute, looked up at the heavens and puffed out his cheeks. He had felt something go; it looked to be in the back of his left leg. His unhappiness was a major worry.
Leeds appeared resigned to their fate and they were pushed further towards it when Rice curved over again and, following a possible handball by William Saliba and a scramble, Timber prodded home. Arteta introduced another new signing, Cristhian Mosquera, for his debut in the 64th minute. It would be Dowman who stole the show.
