After proving themselves as genuine title contenders, Arsenal will be looking for another three points on Sunday afternoon when they face Leeds United.
Arsenal passed a tough test against an out-of-form Liverpool in their last league outing, with Bukayo Saka's late penalty securing a 3-2 win over the Reds. Following on from their 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur a week earlier, the Gunners showed why they are title challengers after two wins against established opposition.
Now, Arsenal face a trip to Elland Road, where a win would keep Mikel Arteta's side top and ahead of a rampant Manchester City side. The last meeting between the two sides saw Arsenal win 2-1 thanks to an Eddie Nketiah brace.
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Emile Smith-Rowe, Mohamed Elneny and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all set to miss the clash with Leeds through injury. So, can Arsenal remain top of the Premier League on Sunday? We simulated the game to find out. To complete this simulation, we used FIFA 23 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.
We simulated Leeds vs Arsenal to get a score prediction
We predict that the home side could set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their line-up as follows: Meslier; Kristensen, Koch, Cooper, Strujik; Adams, Roca; Sinisterra, Aaronson, Harrison; Rodrigo.
We predict that the Gunners could line up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu; Odegaard, Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
Arsenal put on a show in the opening 20 minutes of the game, with some fluid attacking moves seeing the Gunners easily beat Leeds' backline and create good chances. Their dominance paid off on the 23rd-minute mark when Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring.
After being played in-behind down the right, Saka was able to burst forward and break into the box. Jesus made a darting run towards the front post, and the Brazilian was picked out by Saka, tapping the ball in past the 'keeper to make it 1-0.
A big part of Arsenal's attacking success this season has been the rejuvenation of Granit Xhaka, with the midfielder playing well in a more advanced role. And, the Switzerland international made it 2-0 just before the break with a fantastic strike.
Saka intercepted a pass on the right before finding Martin Odegaard in the middle, with Leeds now exposed at the back. Odegaard worked the ball back out to the right before pulling his marker to the back post, allowing Xhaka to push forward into the space at the front.
Saka picked out Xhaka in the box, and the midfielder drilled a powerful strike past Illan Meslier at his near post to double the lead. Arsenal then confirmed the three points in the 67th minute when Odegaard finished off a great passing move to make it 3-0.
Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Martinelli exchanged passes with Xhaka down the left before the Brazilian burst into the box. Martinelli skipped past his marker and looked destined to shoot, but he unselfishly squared the ball to Odegaard who swept into the net from close range.
With eight minutes to go, Leeds substitute Patrick Bamford pulled a goal back for the hosts. The striker peeled away from William Saliba to nod Brenden Aaronson's cross in at the back post, but they couldn't muster a comeback as the Gunners emerged victorious.
FIFA 23 predicted final score: Leeds 1-3 Arsenal
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 23 predicts that Arsenal could remain top of the Premier League on Sunday with an impressive performance against Leeds. The Gunners were solid at both ends of the pitch and were unlucky to lose their clean sheet, and if Arteta's side could produce a similar performance on Sunday, the Arsenal faithful will be very happy.
What do you think the final score will be? Let us know in the comments!
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