Yesterday was so very nearly the perfect footballing day. An arrival of a new signing and boyhood fan before the game, a thumping of a newly promoted side with the goals shared, your star striker off the mark, plus a debut for the 15-year-old wonderkid. Yep, yesterday could have had it all.

Unfortunately for us we had to have some bad news, which came in the shape of injuries to Odegaard and Saka and whilst Martin’s I think might hopefully just be some shoulder bruising and hopefully won’t keep him out for too long, the sight of Saka holding his hamstring didn’t exactly fill me with glee. If you’re going to go ‘glass half full’ then you could say that at least Arteta confirmed it wasn’t the same hamstring that required surgery last season, but as Arteta admitted for Saka to come off it means it is in his words ‘significant’. I suspect it almost certainly rules him out of next Sunday’s trip to Anfield and just as you were thinking that this would be the perfect prep for that game, we go and get this happen to us.

Saka is a big blow, it will weaken us ahead of the weekend’s trip to the North West, but at least this season we have options. Madueke played on the left yesterday and was good, but you could tell he was more comfortable on the right and it was for just such a situation like this that he was purchased, so if Saka can’t make it we need to see him step up on that left hand side. If Odegaard is out then there is Eze who could come in and maybe we shift Rice to the right, or Nwaneri gets the start as the understudy to Odegaard. I thought Ethan did well yesterday for the 50+ minutes he was on the pitch for; tidy in possession, was involved in two short creating actions and one goal creating action on the day and on a day in which our end product was on display, he was part of the side that did the business.

That business started in the first half and started just over a third into the game with Set Piece FC Ole Ole once more proving how valuable they are for us. Up until that point it’d been a story of Leeds sitting a little deeper, not really venturing too far forward, but having the one big chance of the game when they forced Raya into a smart save from a corner. That was pretty much it from them but as soon as the first goal went in, you kind of sensed that Arsenal were ready to go up through the gears. That we did just over ten minutes later and on the stroke of halftime as Saka was slipped in by Timber to rifle the ball home on his weaker foot. Timber had one heck of a game yesterday and the kind of game that if you’ve got him in your fantasy team, you’re laughing all the way to the bank because he bagged two goals from set pieces and one assist on the day and when you’re delivering on that level of end product, you have to give the guy that man of the match gong I would have thought.

The second half very much felt like a case of ‘how many?’ I felt. And just three minutes after the restart Gyokeres was set free down our left hand side in front of me in Block Five and he bulldozed his way through the Leeds defence to bag his first proper goal in an Arsenal shirt. It felt like a very ‘Gyokeres’ style goal I thought. Running down that left hand channel, peeling away from his marker, then steamrollering through two defenders as he drove into the box to get his shot away. I was obviously in the ground so didn’t see any of the commentary until I’ve had a re-watch of the goals this morning, but Gary Neville was right to say that it was a big goal for him. With that goal – and the second penalty to be fair – he’s off the mark and we don’t have to have it become a ‘thing’ if he doesn’t get on the scoresheet. The way he also took the penalty that Dowman won (more on him in a sec) was also really well struck too. He does like to give that ball a good wallop. Love it. We knew it already, but he knows where the goal is and this will also give him the lift and confidence that he belongs in the Premier League. Let’s hope for more of the same next weekend.

And more of the same from a set piece perspective too, because that’s three out of our six goals scored this season from set plays, as Timber’s second was fumbled in through the melee after another good Rice delivery. It’ll be interesting to see if we can unsettle the experienced Liverpool defenders next weekend like we did with the Leeds lads.

Speaking of ‘lads’, how about that young one we’ve got who is still doing his GCSEs, eh? Max Dowman, lad, take a bow. He is just so full of energy, running and spirit. To be getting on to the pitch as a 15-year-old and look like he’s a seasoned pro whose been playing for 10 years is remarkable. As soon as he came on what he wanted to do was just run with the ball. He commits players and that’s his third penalty he’s won if you count pre season too. We keep telling ourselves that we need to be mindful that he’s just a kid, that the expectations should be managed, but every time you give him a new obstacle – and this one was a debut for The Arsenal – he just knocks them down. He’s gone up against the physicality of Newcastle, he’s sat down Leeds defenders on their arses yesterday, he’s delivering in the final third and after seeing what we’ve seen yesterday, he has to be a viable option from the bench and I think we have to be looking at him for next weekend too. It’s a massive difference playing away at Anfield compared to when you’re 4-0 up against a newly promoted Leeds side, but as I just mentioned, he keeps knocking off milestones, so why can’t this be one as well? He even had a really good effort that just whistled past the post too.

All-in -all it worked out to be a very good day at the office for those Arsenal players, injuries aside, and now they can get back on that training ground knowing that there’s a solid base that has been built on.

Catch you all tomorrow with another instalment of whatever Arsenal-related things come in to my head, plus I think we’ll be going live with a Same Old Arsenal pod at 10am if you fancy joining us.