Spotlight on Raphinha's first start as Leeds United winger offers immediate goal threat

Having been handed seven minutes off the bench in the 3-0 win at Aston Villa and a full second half against Crystal Palace, Brazilian winger Raphinha was given his full Whites debut against the Gunners with the usually ever-present Helder Costa dropping to the bench.

Interestingly, despite United being without the injured Pablo Hernandez and with Rodrigo only returning from covid to the bench, Raphinha still lined up out wide with Whites head coach Marcelo Bielsa resisting any temptation to play the 23-year-old in the no 10 role.

Bielsa has already said that Raphinha could eventually be an option as a central attacking midfielder but that his best and natural position was as a right winger.

Consequently, Mateusz Klich instead slotted in behind Patrick Bamford with Raphinha wide right and Jack Harrison wide left.

As part of creating a whopping 25 attempts on goal, Klich offered two shots, both of which were good opportunities that were sent over the bar but he wasn't alone in squandering good opportunities in a goalless draw.

Alongside Stuart Dallas, Raphinha mustered four attempts at goal with only Whites no 9 Patrick Bamford offering more with five.

Raphinha got his first attempt all wrong, slicing the ball wide from the edge of the area in the early stages but his second effort from a similar range only narrowly flew wide for what would have been a spectacular opener.

Another attempt was then blocked and Raphinha then went his closest yet in added time when his rising effort hit the left post from inside the box deep into second half stoppage time.

Raphinha had already displayed his fine passing ability in his outings against Villa and Palace though the winger's passing accuracy against the Gunners actually stood quite low at 68 per cent with 23 of 34 passes accurate.

Liam Cooper (93 per cent) and Gjanni Alioski (90 per cent) finished top of the shop for Leeds in that department.

Perhaps naturally for a new winger coming into a Bielsa side, the defensive side of Raphinha's game is open to improvement with the summer recruit attempting three tackles, one of which was successful but the wide man also made one clearance and one interception.

Raphinha was also successful with his only attempted dribble, beating two men in something that will surely become a big feature of his game at Leeds, yet it was Raphinha's goal threat that proved the most notable aspect of his display against the Gunners.

Even from the right wing, Raphinha still offered one more attempt that Arsenal centre-forward Aubameyang and United's summer recruit from Rennes is clearly not afraid to unleash attempts, even from outside of the box.

The winger ultimately proved unsuccessful against the Gunners but given his obvious quality and just how close he came, the £17m recruit is unlikely to be kept at bay for long.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/goalscoring-efficiency-pepes-var-debate-rodrigos-impact-and-boost-defence-leeds-united-talking-points-3044433https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/we-tried-everything-score-goal-robin-koch-laments-leeds-uniteds-luck-arsenal-draw-3044366https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/yorkshire-evening-post-launch-leeds-united-only-digital-subscription-ahead-premier-league-campaign-2967964

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Thank you Laura Collins