Arsenal legend Ian Wright fronts up to 'massive worry' in Leeds United clash

The Whites and Gunners will lock horns in their first Premier League meeting for 16 years in Sunday's 4.30pm kick-off but Leeds and Arsenal also met in the FA Cup third round back in January when United were still seeking promotion from English football's second tier.

Mikel Arteta's side ultimately progressed with a 1-0 victory thanks to a Reiss Nelson strike ten minutes after the break but Marcelo Bielsa's Whites dominated the first half and newly-promoted United's swashbuckling style has left former striker Wright concerned ahead of this weekend's showdown.

Both sides are approaching the contest on the back of three-goal defeats before the international break with a Leeds side missing the injured Kalvin Phillips beaten 4-1 at Crystal Palace and the Gunners swept aside 3-0 by visiting Aston Villa.

Speaking on this week's edition of the Wrighty's House podcast, Wright said: "You cannot not go into this game not being worried but at the same time when you look at Leeds, I’ve watched Leeds and watched Leeds in the Championship.

"Did you see when Leeds came and played us in the FA Cup? They came to Arsenal and they gave us a chasing.

"It was a joy to watch what they had done to my team. I was thinking ‘what’s going on?’

"When I watched that game I remember saying, 'this team owe it to themselves to come and play in this league' when I watched them play against us in that first half.

“The movement and everything they were doing and how they played against us, the confidence from back to front.

"But what you see with them is how reliant they are on every single player doing their exact specific job.

"You look at Kalvin Phillips missing and they lost 4-1 on both occasions simply because no-one else can play the role that he plays.

"He (Bielsa) doesn't do plan B and the thing is with Arsenal we know exactly what Bielsa is going to do.

"We are not going to say 'they have changed' or 'he is playing here', there's nothing to work out so when you look at Mikel and obviously having the break that we have had with the loss that we have had before the international break, he has had a lot of time to think about it.

"What he (Mikel) doesn't have to think about is how they are going to play so we need to be ready for that.

"They (Leeds) can deal with this intensity and the fact is I have watched them in the Championship and the fact is they can keep it going.

“It’s a worry, a massive worry because of what happened previously before the international break.

"It's a case of we know how Leeds are going to play so I think there's going to be a little bit of pressure for Mikel, simply because he (Bielsa) is not going to throw in any curve balls.

"I think the problem that Leeds have and what we have got to make sure that we force upon them is because they go man to man on people, that man has got a specific job and if a Leeds player doesn't do his job that's when they fall apart.

"We have got to try and put them under that kind of pressure."

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Thank you Laura Collins