Arsenal makes their long-awaited return to the Emirates to be confronted with Leeds United after a victory on the road saw them overcome Manchester United in Old Trafford in their Premier League opener last Sunday.
Mikel Arteta makes Prime Minister League debut to Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres in the 1-0 win of the Gunners, in which the first half of Riccardo Calafiori turned out to be the difference.
The Noord-Londoners are unbeaten in their last 14 meetings with the opposition of Saturday and will be happy to open their account at home for the 2025-26 campaign.
In anticipation of the first home game of this side of the season, William Saliba discussed the title ambitions of his club, after the second place in the last three campaigns in the top.
“Of course we finished second for three consecutive years and we know we always miss something,” Saliba said. “Now it's a new season, we have to see what we've not done well enough to win the competition.
“We won the first competition, and of course we want to win the competition, and we will give everything. We have to try to be even better than the last three seasons to win this competition.”
The Frenchman, who played the lead role in the heart of the Arsenal defense during only the third competition of the club at United at United in their last 19 attempts, emphasized this ambition of Arsenal and said: “We want to score in every context -set -pieces, counter -attack, everything. We know that we can win every time.
“Of course we knew that we didn't play our best football, but in the end we knew it was the first game at Old Trafford with some new signing sessions from them.
“We just miss trophies. We play well, we are good, but we miss trophies and we have to win trophies with Arsenal to be even better.”
In the meantime, the newly promoted Leeds by Daniel Farke also started a winning start on Monday when they prevailed on the new look Everton of David Moyes, thanks to an 84th minute penalty from Lukas Nmecha.
The Elland Road side registered a clean slate for the first time in 13 years in their first league match of the season, she was a 1-0 win over Wolves in the championship in August 2012.
And Farke believed that his side earned all three points and said: “I generally think in a tight game, a hard -fought victory but also a well -deserved victory on my part.
“Excellent performance. I think we were very dominant in the first half and had almost 70 percent, 12 shots already in the first half.
“I was a bit worried, because especially if a newly promoted side, once you have such a dominant period, and it was more or less the entire first half that we dominated, normally you also have to reward yourself with the goal, because one moment can change your entire momentum at Premier League level.
“An experienced side like Everton can come into play and take advantage, score a goal, and then the whole story seems as if you are getting praise for the performance, but no points on the board.”
Players to watch
Arsenal – Viktor Gyokees
Despite the fact that he has submitted an underwhelming debut and has not managed any shot in a league match for the first time since April 2023, Gyokeres has demonstrated his goals in the course of several seasons.
De Big Swede was on the score sheet in 39 authorities in the competition for Sporting CP during the 2024-25 season, the first for most goals scored in the Primeira Liga and the recording of most goals in a single top-flight season in Portugal since Jardel's 42 goals for Sporting in 2001-02.
Leeds – Lukas Nmecha
Nmecha scored only three goals last season in 19 performances for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, although he was set aside due to an injury for a significant part of the campaign.
After signing this summer for Leeds on a free transfer, the German scored in his arch for the club and became the first Leeds replacement that scored on his Premier League debut since Alan Smith in November 1998.
The 26-year-old attacker will hope that he can continue where he had stayed on Monday when his side visits the Emirates Stadium.
Match prediction: Arsenal Win
Arsenal has remained unbeaten in their last 42 Premier League home matches against promoted teams (37 victories and 5 draws), with their last defeat as a 1-0 loss for Newcastle in November 2010.
If the Side of Arteta avoids the defeat in their upcoming game, they will match Chelsea's record for the longest undefeated home against promoted parties in the competition, which lasted 43 games from 2001 to 2015.
The Gunners are also unbeaten in their last 14 meetings with Leeds in all competitions (W12 D2) and win each of the last six in a row.
In the meantime, Leeds has struggled in Arsenal and has lost 10 of their last 12 Premier League matches there, with only two victories, and has not succeeded in having a clean slate in their last 14 visits.
Moreover, Leeds has lost 23 of their last 30 league matches in London (four wins and three draws). In the Premier League specifically, they are away from home on a seven-game series, dating from a 2-1 victory over Brentford on the last day of the 2021-22 season.
But their performance against Everton will give them confidence. Leeds wants to win their opening two Premier League matches in a season for the first time since 2002-03 under Terry Venables.
Opta wins probability
Arsenal – 70.4%
Tick -17.2%
Leeds -12.5%