Key events
14 min: Madueke gets on te ball out on the left touchline, before playing it inside to Myles Lewis-Skelly, who sends it towards Declan Rice. Leeds win possession back and go Route One, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin is unable to get to it before Konsa despite a well-timed sprint.
12 min: Just the one shot on goal so far, from the boot of Leeds United’s Noah Okafor.
10 min: Leeds enjoy a spell of good possession which ends abruptly when Anton Stach strays offside before latching on to a pass up the inside left from Gabriel Gudmonsson.
8 min: Noah Okafor sees a curled effort from the edge of the area deflected narrowly wide of the upright. From the ensuing corner, Arsenal break upfield with Bukayo Saka on the ball. Jayden Bogle makes a crucial tackle.
6 min: Odegaard ignores the urging of the crowd and passes up a shooting opportunity on the edge of the Leeds box, choosing instead to spray the ball wide to Madueke on the left. A promising move breaks down when Leeds win a free-kick for something-or-other.
5 min: Jayden Bogle boots the ball long from the Leeds right-back position but there’s far too much welly on his delivery, which carries through to David Raya on the edge pof the Arsenal penalty area.
4 min: Tarik Muharemovic and Trafford exchange passes under a heavy press from Arsenal, who end up winning a throw-in.
2 min: Arsenal are straight on to the front foot, with Noni Madueke on the ball out on the left wing. He plays a one-two with Odegaard and steers the ball into the centre for Saka, who collides with Trafford as he elects to try and poke it goalwards with a high foot instead of his head. Offside.
ShareArsenal v Leeds United is go …
1 min: With their players kitted out in yellow shirts, black shorts and yellow socks, Leeds United get the ball rolling on a sunny day at the Emirates Stadium.
Not long now: With the opening riff of Eminem’s Loose Yourself booming out over the Emirates PA, referee Paul Tierney and his team of match officials lead out both sets of players. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away.
Mikel Arteta: “It’s been a long international break with some players having different issues,” says Arsenal’s head coach in an interview with TNT Sports. “The team look good and we have a point to prove after what happened in our last game.”
ShareLeeds goalkeeper James Trafford played for England against Spain and Czechia during the international break. Photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty ImagesShare
An email: “Happy Saturday, Barry,” writes Mark Kerry. “Is it just me or are there other baffled Arsenal fans out there regarding Arteta’s obsession with starting Havertz as a centre forward? I just can’t see the rationale for it at this point, given that Havertz has proven over the last few seasons that he’s not at all prolific, whereas Gyokeres is clearly a capable finisher – as exemplified both by last season in the Premier League but also during recent internationals. Would Arsenal not be better to persist with, or even adapt to,a more natural goal scorer?”
I’m not an Arsenal fan, baffled or otherwise, but I don’t think Gyokeres is a good enough centre-forward to play for them and I’m not sure he’s done anywhere near enough to convince Mikel Arteta otherwise. His forte is running behind into the kind of space Arsenal just aren’t afforded by most teams they play against and for such a big unit, his hold-up play is dismal. It doesn’t surprise me that Kai Havertz is picked ahead of him.
Updated at 07.15 EDT
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard warms up ahead of kick-off. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty ImagesShare
Daniel Farke: The Leeds United head coach was one of several top flight managers who chose not to offer his thoughts on the Manchester City verdict in his pre-match press conference but he was happy to discuss the significant improvement shown by his own team in recent months.
“It’s not coincidence that in the last 10-11 months we are the fifth best team in the Premier League in terms of points,” he told reporter. “We haven’t won the lottery to be in fifth, it’s not coincidence that we are unbeaten after a very impressive start to the Premier League.”
Farke did point out that the only time he faced Manchester CIty during the years they have been found guilty of financial shenanigans he was in charge of a Norwich City side that won.
Daniel Farke has steered Leeds to fifth place in the Premier League table after five games of the season. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/Nigel French/Apl/SportsphotoShare
Mikel Arteta: The Arsenal head coach played a predictably straight bat while dealing with the obligatory questions about Manchester City, repeatedly stressing the need to “respect the process”. Arteta served as assistant coach at City under Pep Guardiola between 2016-19, a period which overlapped several seasons of financial skullduggery. Upon being asked if his conscience is clear, he offered a one-word reply: “Yes”.
During the football-related parts of his press conference that nobody was particularly interested in, Arteta had this to say about his side’s return to action. “We have been three weeks with no football for us, without club football. We play in front of the Emirates, in front of our people. The atmosphere we have created in recent months has been unbelievable.”
Mikel Arteta takes Arsenal training at London Colney yesterday. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty ImagesShare
Comment: As the top flight returns, armed with the knowledge its serial champions have been the authors of a 10-year sham supremacy, the first question is simple: how is it going to feel? Words: Barney Ronay
ShareToday’s match officials
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistants: Richard West and Steve Meredith
Fourth official: Oliver Langford
VAR: Tony Harrington
Assistant VAR: Nick Greenhalgh
Paul Tierney leads today’s team of match officials at the Emirates Stadium Photograph: Rui Vieira/APShare
Those teams: Despite fears they may be unavailable, Ezri Konsa, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz have all been passed fit to start for Arsenal, who make three changes to the side that lost against Brighton. Ben White, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Noni Madueke all come into the side, while Bruno Guimaraes, Jurrien Timber and the injnured Christos Tzolis drop out.
Daniel Farke fields the same Leeds starting XI for the fourth consecutive Premier League match. After missing out on international duty with Wales through injury, Harry Wilson starts on the bench. His international teammate Dan James is ruled out.
A peek inside the Arsenal dressing-room before Riccardo Calafiori hoves into view. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 06.58 EDT
Arsenal v Leeds United line-ups
Arsenal: Raya; White, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard; Saka, Havertz, Madueke
Subs: Kepa, Hincapie, Eze, Timber, Gyokeres, Merino, Zubimendi, Guimaraes, Dowman
Leeds United: Trafford, Justin, Elvedi, Muharemovic, Bogle, Ampadu, Tanaka, Gudmundsson, Stach, Okafor, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Zetterer, Bard, Bijol, Gruev, Longstaff, Aaronson, Wilson, Bahoya, Nmecha.
Early team news: The international break was not particularly kind to Arsenal, who have lost their Greek winger Christos Tzolis to a hamstring injury, while the particpation of Kai Havertz and Ezri Konsa in today’s game is also in serious doubt. William Saliba remains sidelined with a back injury, but some or all of Declan Rice, Max Dowman, Ben White and Christhian Mosquera could return from short spells in the treatment room to feature today.
Should Havertz be forced to sit this game out, Viktor Gyokeres could get his first Premier League start of the season. While he has yet to score for Arsenal in the current campaign, he did score in four consecutive games for Sweden during the international break.
Neither Harry Wilson nor Joe Rodon featured for Wales during the international break. Rodon is definitely out of today’s game, while Wilson’s chances of playing are rated at 50-50. Their compatriot Dan James is definitely out after picking up a back injury on Wales duty. Jean-Matteo Bahoya may miss out after injuring his ankle on duty for France U21s.
Leeds defender Joe Rodon is back training on the grass after recovering from a thigh injury but will not feature at the Emirates Stadium today. Photograph: Geoff Stellfox/Getty ImagesSharePremier League: Arsenal v Leeds United
After an uncharacteristically long hiatus, the Premier League is back. And while there is no shortage of fans ready to wrap themselves in its cosy familiarity, this is now an unquestionably different competition. Still in its infancy after just five games, the rest of this season’s post-verdict Premier League remains shrouded in a weird uncertainty, but in the meantime the show must go on. Until Manchester City’s fate is decided, it will have a surreal and hollow feel.
While Mikel Arteta and Arsenal fans have had three weeks to stew over the shellacking their champions were subjected to by Brighton just before the international break, the collective mood will have been improved by news the Spaniard has signed a lucrative new four-year contract that will keep him at the Emirates until 2030.
Despite making short work of today’s visitors at home and away last season, Arsenal welcome a much-improved Leeds United side to the Emirates. Fifth in the table, Daniel Farke and his players earned plenty of plaudits this season. Few of them came on the back of a dreary stalemate with Crystal Palace last time out, but their demolition of Newcastle a week previously was genuinely impressive. Kick-off in what promises to be a stern test of both teams’ mettle is at 12.30pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
Updated at 06.20 EDT