Dissecting Leeds’ 22-minute horror show: Luke Ayling’s red card and Illan Meslier’s blunder

Leeds United produced one of the worst first halves of any team in the Premier League this season, conceding two goals and losing Luke Ayling to a red card in the space of just 22 calamitous minutes. 

It was a reminder of why Jesse Marsch’s side are in the position they are in, fighting against relegation to the Championship and with a pre-match goal difference of -34.

Leeds had kept clean sheets in their two previous away matches but their resistance at the Emirates Stadium was bordering on comical in a dreadful opening 45 minutes.

Five minutes: Illan Meslier gifts the opening goal to Arsenal

The first rule when playing away at Arsenal is to keep things tight in the opening few minutes, in order to quieten the home crowd. The atmosphere at the Emirates has improved dramatically this season but there have still been plenty of games when the groans and moans from the stands have hurt the team’s performance.

As a result, Arsenal always look to start matches as quickly as possible. Leeds would have known this, and they would have felt it in the match too. How disastrous it was, then, for their goalkeeper Illan Meslier to surrender one of the easiest goals that Eddie Nketiah will ever score.

Nketiah is a master of high-pressing, timing his runs well and using his pace to unsettle defenders. Meslier had to know it was a possibility that the Arsenal striker would look to be aggressive off the ball, and yet he inexplicably dallied on Ayling’s pass. In came Nketiah, two yards from goal, to score with a tackle. 

10 minutes: Nketiah doubles Arsenal’s lead

What was worse for Leeds? The way in which Gabriel Martinelli was allowed to easily run down the outside of their defence, or their complete lack of collective defensive awareness in the penalty box? 

If the opening goal was the result of an individual error, then this was a genuine team effort, in all the wrong ways. Martinelli is one of the league’s most exciting dribblers but that does not excuse the defending: the Brazilian went past two players on the left wing before finding Nketiah in the box. 

At the moment Nketiah struck his shot, Leeds had five defenders in the penalty area. Arsenal had four, including Martinelli, and the three others were totally unmarked. If Martinelli had not picked out Nketiah, he might easily have played in Martin Odegaard or Bukayo Saka instead. 

27 minutes: Ayling shown a straight red card

The frustration of it all could be seen on the faces of the Leeds players, and indeed in their actions. Ayling, a former Arsenal youth player, simply lost his cool when Martinelli made his latest scarpering run down the left wing. Ayling lunged in with both feet, leaving the ground and clattering into the young Brazilian.

The only surprise was that Christopher Kavanagh, the referee, did not immediately show the red card. It was only after a check of the pitchside monitor that he made the obvious decision, upgrading Ayling’s yellow into a red.

It could have been even worse for Leeds in the moments afterwards, with winger Raphinha almost following Ayling down the tunnel. Raphinha was booked for reacting to the referee, and then had to be hauled away by his team-mates before he picked up a second yellow.