Leeds United 0-0 Arsenal: Gunners player ratings as the ten men battle to a goalless draw | Premier League 2020-21

Arsenal held Leeds United to a 0-0 draw in the Premier League at Elland Road, despite playing most of it with ten men, after a gritty second-half display.

Nicolas Pepe was sent off for a head butt on Ezgjan Alioski with VAR intervening to assist referee Anthony Taylor, who had missed the incident.

Even before the red card though, Leeds were the dominant side, and had the better chances when compared to Arsenal.

Patrick Bamford and Stuart Dallas had Leeds's biggest chances of the first half, but Bamford was denied by an excellent Bernd Leno save, while Dallas put his shot wide.

After the red card, Leeds hit the woodwork three times. Rodrigo struck it first, with a terrific curling effort from the edge of the box. Bamford then put his header onto the post after a great cross from Ian Poveda. In stoppage time, Raphinha too hit the post.

Arsenal had a great chance themselves in the second half, when Hector Bellerin played Bukayo Saka through on goal, but the English youngster was denied nicely by Leeds goalkeeper Ilian Meslier.

Here's how each player fared in this game for the Gunners.

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Arsenal Player Ratings

Bernd Leno - 8/10

Bernd Leno makes an acrobatic save.

Leno will be thrilled with this clean sheet in adversity. He made two splendid saves as well to ensure that the sheet remained clean. The first one was an instinctive low save to deny Bamford, while he sprung to his right and pulled off a one-handed save to deny Stuart Dallas later.

Hector Bellerin - 6/10

In the first half, Bellerin was in trouble thanks to Leeds overloading his flank. The Spaniard got no defensive assistance from Pepe and was tormented by Jack Harrison. That changed in the second half, with Arsenal defending much deeper and getting more bodies back. Bellerin also played an excellent through ball to Saka, which the youngster should've scored from.

Rob Holding - 7/10

In general, Holding had a good game. He was strong in dealing with any aerial threat that Leeds posed and also ensured that the Whites were given little room to run in behind in the second half.

Gabriel Magalhaes - 7/10

Like Holding, Gabriel was strong in the air and ensured that Leeds's crosses into the box were mostly futile. He did make some hasty clearances that he didn't connect well enough with, but no harm was done.

Kieran Tierney - 7/10

This was another warrior-like performance from Tierney. He was excellent in the tackle, and in the second half, he took the fight to Leeds. Whenever he got the opportunity, he drove forward with purpose. He also looked a lot more comfortable after Saka came on.

Granit Xhaka - 5/10

Arsenal allowed Leeds to have the ball, but Xhaka didn't play particularly well. He didn't shut down the passing lanes to the Leeds attackers at all.

Dani Ceballos - 6/10

Ceballos battled well in midfield, and set up a good chance for Aubameyang in the first half. This was definitely a good performance from the Spaniard.

Joe Willock - 5/10

Willock was recalled to Mikel Arteta's Premier League starting XI in this game, but did little to prove why he should remain there. He generally couldn't deal with the energy of the Leeds midfield, before being taken off midway through the second half, for Saka to come on.

Willian - 4/10

After an eventful international break, Willian had another poor performance for Arsenal. Starting on the left, he didn't really get involved in any sort of attacking play. He was replaced by Nelson at half-time.

Nicolas Pepe - 0/10

In the first half, Pepe gave Bellerin no defensive assistance, which left the full-back exposed to the Leeds overload. Ten minutes into the second half, the Ivorian compounded an awful night for himself by running his head into Alioski. He was never going to get away with that in the era of VAR.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 5/10

Back in a central role, Aubameyang was a lot more involved for Arsenal in this game. He had a couple of half-chances in the first half, but he really came to life after Saka came on, as the duo fashioned a few chances on the counter-attack.

Substitutes

Reiss Nelson - 5/10

Nelson was brought on at half-time, but the Arsenal plan was impacted by the red card. That meant they didn't have enough of the ball, and Nelson had to work hard in defense to ensure the clean sheet remained.

Bukayo Saka - 7/10

Saka changed the game for Arsenal. His driving runs down the left flank gave Leeds a real problem. He set up one decent chance for Aubameyang, but he had the biggest chance of the game himself. He chose to take a few touches when he really should have slammed the ball in on the first touch. He had to be taken off with an ankle injury, which Arsenal will hope isn't serious.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles - N/A

He came on in second-half stoppage time for Arsenal to replace the injured Saka.