Mikel Arteta pays ultimate compliment to Leeds United fans and hails Whites figure

Premier League table-toppers Arsenal will line up in West Yorkshire for a 2pm kick-off on Sunday afternoon in what will be Arteta’s third outing at Elland Road as Arsenal boss. The goalless draw between the Whites and Gunners of November 2020 was played in front of empty stands in the country’s fight against Covid-19 but United’s ground was packed to the rafters for the visit of Arsenal last December.

A Leeds side hit hard by injuries and Covid-19 cases fell to a 4-1 defeat under former boss Marcelo Bielsa but Arteta said the response of United’s home fans when the Whites were 3-0 down was unlike anything he had previously experienced in his career.

Raphinha then pulled a goal back from the penalty spot before Emile Smith Rowe hit back for the Gunners who sat fourth in the Premier League table at the time. The Gunners are now top of the pile ten months on but Arteta says he is fully aware of the atmosphere that awaits his team at Elland Road.

“Last year it was incredible,” said Arteta at his pre-match press conference, as quoted by www.arsenalfc.com "Even when we were winning 3-0 that crowd is something that I’ve never seen before, and you can sense that. Every time I watch them and I’ve seen some games already and you can hear the noise, so we know how it’s going to be.”

Asked what he expected from the Whites, Arteta issued praise for Leeds boss Jesse Marsch and his work upon replacing Marcelo Bielsa. Arteta said: “With Jesse and the teams that they have already played, it is very clear what he wants to do - be a really intense team, a really dynamic team and a really good team when there are spaces to attack. There’s some similarities [to Bielsa’s team] but every coach has his own book, but what Jesse has done over the time he has been there is really impressive.”