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2025/26 English Premier League
Matchday 2
Arsenal v Leeds United
Emirates Stadium
London, England
Saturday, 23 August 2025
Kick-off is at 18h30
Arsenal will be targeting a major improvement when they welcome
Premier League newcomers Leeds to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, August 23 in the late kick-off.
The Gunners were poor in their opening match against Manchester United, who dominated proceedings at Old Trafford but were undone by Riccardo Calafiori's 13th-minute header which secured a 1-0 win.
Mikel Arteta's side finished a distant second to Liverpool last season and they have recruited in almost every department, bringing in Kepa, Cristhian Mosquera, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres.
The North Londoners won three of their five pre-season friendlies, beating AC Milan 1-0, Newcastle 3-2 and Athletic Bilbao 3-0, while they lost 1-0 to Tottenham and 3-2 to Villarreal.
Zubimendi and Gyokeres featured from the start against the Red Devils, with Madueke making his debut off the bench.
The Whites earned promotion to the top flight after a two-year absence as Championship winners, having pipped Burnley to the title on goal difference when both teams finished on 100 points.
Daniel Farke's side made a triumphant return as they edged Everton 1-0 at Elland Road on August 18 following a successful pre-season which saw them go unbeaten in their five friendlies.
The West Yorkshire outfit have been heavily active in the transfer market, signing Lucas Perri, Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornauw, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Sean Longstaff, Anton Stach, Lukas Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Of the new signings, Perri, Gudmundsson and Stach started against the Toffees, while Longstaff and Nmecha were introduced off the bench.
Arteta stressed the importance of winning against United despite not playing anywhere near their best, admitting the result will give his players confidence.
"Well, that gives you certainly momentum and confidence - two very important things. Because you know that when you know your standards in certain aspects, which today we weren't, being fair, we can still come away and find a way to win the game," the Spaniard said.
"And the team has to find that resilience throughout the season for 10 months in different contexts to be able to do that. Of course, we have to improve a lot of things and that will happen very soon.
"But in terms of managing to get that into a very positive result, that's a great way to do it."
Farke hailed a dominant display from his team against the Merseysiders which was capped off with a penalty from debutant Nmecha on 84 minutes.
"I think overall in a tight game, a hard-fought win but also a well-deserved win from my side," the German declared.
"Outstanding performance. I think we were very dominant in the first half and had nearly 70 per cent possession, 12 shots already in the first half.
"We didn't allow really many chances during the whole game. I think we deserved to win this game but you always have to be switched on."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Arsenal wins - 5
Leeds wins - 0
Draws - 0
Premier League Matchday 2 fixtures:
Friday, August 22
21h00: West Ham United v Chelsea
Saturday, August 23
13h30: Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur
16h00: Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers
16h00: Brentford v Aston Villa
16h00: Burnley v Sunderland
18h30: Arsenal v Leeds United
Sunday, August 24
15h00: Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest
15h00: Everton v Brighton & Hove Albion
17h30: Fulham v Manchester United
Monday, August 25
21h00: Newcastle United v Liverpool
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