Arsenal v Leeds Utd Sunday 8th May 14:00 | Emirates Stadium Leeds travel down to the Emirates on Sunday lunchtime, desperately hoping to reverse a run of bad form that has lasted almost two decades. It's been 19 years (and a day) since Leeds last won at Arsenal. Goals from Kewell, Harte and Viduka led Peter Reid's men to a narrow 3-2 victory that day; helping them finish their 02/03 campaign, five points clear of the drop zone. Interestingly, West Ham were relegated that season with 42 points; a record they hold for the most points achieved in a 38-game season by a relegated top flight side. Jesse Marsch's men have 320 minutes of game time left this season, to add to their 34 point tally, but with games against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford to come, maintaining their Premier League status will be a tall order. Although Patrick Bamford has returned to training this week, Ben Dinnery's 'Premier injury website' have ruled him out for Sunday's game. Injuries have restricted the 28yo to just seven starts and 560 minutes of game time this season. Unfortunately, Leeds didn't think it was necessary to have more than one goal scoring first team forward, which has seriously hindered their hopes for survival. There's bad news too for skipper Liam Cooper. The Scottish International limped off the pitch during the warm-up against Manchester City last Saturday. It was later revealed he had 'a weird feeling in his knee'. Various reports suggest he has a 50/50 chance of playing on Sunday, though again, the Premier injury website have ruled him out. With Stuart Dallas sidelined for the foreseeable future, Jesse Marsch is set to reintroduce Junior Firpo back into the fold. It is though the 25yo poses more of a threat going forward than Struijk, and Hjelde is still out after the cruciate knee ligament injury he picked up in the 3-0 defeat against Everton. Adam Forshaw, Tyler Roberts and Crysensio Summerville are set to miss the remainder of the season due to respective injuries. Recent wins against Chelsea, Manchester Utd and West Ham have propelled the Gunners to fourth in the table. They'll be hoping for three points on Sunday which could see them go level on points with Chelsea. They will be without Thomas Partey (thigh) and Kieran Tierney (knee surgery), but Ben White has overcome a knock and looks set to face his former club. Versatile forward Bukayo Saka is also set to return after picking up a minor injury against West Ham.
Blimey, was it 19 years a go ? I seem to remember we handed the title to the scum too as a result of that game.
This would seem to be the toughest of our remaining fixtures. Maybe our change in style will help as it at least presents a different challenge to Arsenal. Clutching at straws maybe but our desperate situation calls for a classic backs to the wall ' smash & grab ' performance.
Usually in a relegation battle the teams involved pull off one or two shock results in the run in. Burnley and Everton both have so we’re due one. That’s the straw I’m clutching at. We really have to hold them scoreless though to get anything. This nonsense of conceding in first 15 minutes will be game over
I’d give us a 1 in 100 chance of winning this, I hope we keep the scoreline respectable, I can’t see us scoring and can’t see us conceding fewer than 3 so I’m going 3-0 defeat
Kinell Ristac and that's not helping, no wonder i'm so depressed about football atm please just give me some hope someone please
Here’s some hope for you southern Prediction League 1st-Forza.................7.......158 2nd-Aski...................4.......142 3rd-Oldschool............4......129 4th-stonkin.................9......128 5th-Infidel..................3.......126 6th-Emu.....................6.......125 7th-gessa...................3.......124 8th=blono...................0......123 8th=mustyfrog...........2.......123 8th=2pennth..............4.........123 11th=Doc...................4.........116 12th=Irishshako.........4.........114 12th=LDS.....................4........114 14th-ristac..................7........113 15th-Elland...................0........112 16th-foolee....................5......110 17th-SIDDAS..................0.......92
The more I think of it, that straw I was clutching at re a surprise win, would seem far more likely to be the Chelsea game. We must win against Brighton anyway
My last straw clutching is that Spurs will lose at Liverpool so it would be the most Arsenal thing to do and bottle almost certain top four by losing to us.
realistically there is city and liverpool and everyone else. Arsenal are a good side and will be clear favourites against us... but you don't have that sense of unbeatability about them. Same with Chelsea. However Arsenal's home record is 3rd best in the division... and chelsea and brighton are 3 and 4 respectively in the away tables. It's not an easy gig, we're going to need some breaks.
There could be still either a Burnley or Everton collapse. Remember if Burnley lost their last four we’d only need a point. It can happen hopefully
I'd say we have about a 15-20% chance of getting a result. Obviously that's not what the bookies say, but they're cheating robbing bastards when it comes to Leeds odds.
Arsenal may be a good team, but they are not going to face the Leeds team or ethics that they faced the last time. This time, I suspect that we will concentrate on disruption, or put another way - do a Burnley on them. There are a lot of fragile egos in the Arse team & if they react, it's possible they'll see more yellows than us. And defeat.
Especially if we could for once actually take the lead against the big boys. Far too often we gift them a goal in first quarter of game and its virtually game over then
