Arsenal icon praises young players who ‘stood up’ to ‘ferocious’ Elland Road atmosphere against Leeds United

It was as good a Sunday as Arsenal supporters could have hoped for when their side’s 1-0 win over Leeds United was followed by Liverpool beating Manchester City at Anfield.

The results mean that the Gunners are now four points clear at the top of the Premier League table and have won nine of their opening ten matches. The victory at Elland Road may not go down as an all time classic performance but it was a gritty display against a resilient home side who threw everything at the visitors in the second half. Holding on to their 1-0 lead and securing the win has seen one former Arsenal player praise the mentality of their current young stars.

Martin Keown, a three time title winner during his incredibly successful second spell at the club, believes the players ‘stood up’ to the Elland Road atmosphere which he recalls as being ‘ferocious’ from his many times visiting the Yorkshire ground. Appearing as a pundit on BBC’s Match of the Day 2, Keown was asked if he had seen ‘a different resilience and fight in Arsenal’ in the win over Leeds and said “It’s been there all season.

“When you got to Brentford and you win the game 3-0 comfortably, beat Spurs and Liverpool at home but this is one where you go to and it’s a young group going to Elland Road, I always found it a ferocious atmosphere to play in and really, really difficult certainly when you’re laying into that main core of fans as they were second half. They stood up to that and it was an outstanding result. They played with a lot of spirit, a lot of grit, backs to the wall and Leeds were magnificent in the second half.”

The Gunners’ icon also heaped the prais on goalscorer Bukayo Saka, saying: “The quality from Saka for his goal, the kid is just fantastic. He’s there most creative player and since Arteta has been there everything seems to go through him. I know Jesus is the new story but Saka just keeps getting better. It’s a top level finish [for the goal] and that was the difference in the end because the second half was a completely different game.”